


Ataraxia

by oceansgrey



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-12 03:17:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 35,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18002801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceansgrey/pseuds/oceansgrey
Summary: Ataraxia (ἀταραξία): literally, "unperturbedness", generally translated as "imperturbability", "equanimity", or "tranquillity"In which things go a bit differently after the fated fight between brothers.





	1. Arrival

Early morning in Konoha was always so peaceful, Izumo noticed. He and Kotetsu would wake, go about their usual morning routine, and then walk together to the gate as the sky began to lighten up for the day. It was a quiet, easy job.

Until today.

“Wanna go out for beers tonight with Aoba, Gai and Kakashi?” Kotetsu asked, grabbing the bar on the gate.

“Sure,” Izumo said, helping hoist the bar up before they had to open the gate doors. “Should we get Iruka, too? Poor guy needs one after dealing with those kids,”

“Sounds good,” Kotetsu said. “Help me with the gate?”

“Sure thing,”

The two pushed the doors of the gate open, not noticing the approaching group.

After the doors were fully open, Izumo jumped upon recognizing the figure leading.

“Shit,” Kotetsu said, reaching for a kunai. “Alert ANBU!”

“Stop!” Izumo said. “Sasuke Uchiha, you are not allowed-”

The words died on his lips once he noticed the missing shinobi carrying the unconscious body of the clan slayer, his comrades stopping shortly behind him.

“I need Sakura Haruno,” Sasuke said, his voice slightly trembling. “Get her right now!”

“We cannot allow-”

The crackle of lightening broke through the air as Sasuke glared down the two, the familiar Chidori startling the two gatekeepers.

“We’ll grab her immediately,”

 

Tsunade was in the middle of a very nice sake-induced dream. Jiraiya had just given her the manuscript for his latest novel, smiling brightly as he placed the copy in her hands.

_“For the strongest kunoichi I know,” he said. “The Tale of the Slug Princess, Tsunade Senju,”_

“Lady Hokage!” Izumo and Kotetsu shouted, bursting into the Hokage office. Tsunade lifted her head up from the report she had fallen asleep on, shaking herself awake. Shizune groaned from her chair, rousing from her sleep. Sakura sat upright on the couch, looking ready for a fight.

“What is it?” Tsunade asked, glancing at the clock on the wall. “Get back to your post!”

“It’s Sasuke Uchiha!” Izumo said, chest heaving from running all the way to the Hokage Tower.

“He requested for Sakura,” Kotetsu said. “He’s probably on his way-”

There was the sound of a jonin shouting in pain, followed by four sets of footsteps. Tsunade stood up at her desk as she watched Sasuke come to a halt in her office, his teammates close behind.

“Is that…?” Tsunade asked, eyes flitting to the body in his arms.

“He’s still alive,” Sasuke panted, looking about two seconds from breaking down. “Please, heal him,”

Tsunade clicked her tongue, shaking her head.

“Sakura, come,” she waved, Sakura shaken from her shock. “We’re heading to the hospital. Shizune, keep watch here. Sasuke, you and your team come with me,”

 

Sasuke paced back and forth in the waiting room outside the operating room. Tsunade and Sakura had been in there for two hours, quickly approaching the third hour.

“Sasuke, sit down,” Jugo offered for the third time in the past fifteen minutes. “You’re exhausted and running on adrenaline alone. You’re going to crash,”

“No,”

Suigetsu let out a sigh, standing from where he had been lounging. Karin was asleep, slumped against Jugo and using her cloak as a blanket.

“Keep us posted,” Suigetsu said quietly to Jugo, walking over to Sasuke. “Come on, let’s go get some coffee if you insist on staying up. After the number you did on him, it’ll take a while,”

Sasuke glanced back and forth between the operating room and Karin and Jugo, who gave his nod of approval.

“I’m fine,” he tried, but his stomach betrayed him. Suigetsu flashed him a smirk, placing a hand on his shoulder and guiding him towards the small café in the wing of the hospital.

“Sure, you are,”

 

Sakura finally came out of the operating room after five hours, bags under her eyes as she looked at Sasuke’s new team. He was in the middle of the bunch, curled up with his head resting on the shoulder of the redhead, fast asleep. The tallest made eye contact with her, attempting to give her a small smile. The one with Zabuza’s sword shot her a smirk, standing to stretch.

“So, pinky, you’ve got good news?” he asked, shaking Sasuke’s shoulder awake. Sasuke bolted upright, trying to shake the exhaustion away. After he chugged the two coffees he bought for himself, he had found himself in between Suigetsu and Karin, and after sitting still for ten minutes, Jugo looked over to find him slumped against her shoulder. He had slept maybe an hour but looked the most awake of the bunch.

“Is he okay?” Sasuke asked, meeting the eyes of his former teammate. Sakura walked closer, tentatively reaching her hand out and putting it on his shoulder. He was real, he was there. She wanted to throw her arms around him, to hug him close and apologize for her childishness before he left, but she had a duty as a doctor.

“He’ll be fine,” she said, watching the worry melt from Sasuke’s face. “He had a lot of internal damage. Tsunade-shishou is working on a permanent cure, but he has some sort of illness. We’re running tests, and he’ll have to have ongoing treatment to repair the damage, but we got the blood out of his lungs, and healed the wounds he had,”

Sasuke felt like crying, feeling hot tears prick his eyes. A large hand rested on his other shoulder, and it comforted him to know Jugo was quick to notice.

Sakura withdrew her hand, balling her fists at her side.

“Why are you here?” she asked. “Why heal your brother, who you swore to kill?”

“It’s a long story,” Sasuke said, looking away.

“I have time,” Tsunade said, slipping out of the operating room. “Come to my office. We’ll speak,”

 

It took about an hour to explain in full detail what happened. In the privacy of Tsunade’s office in the hospital, far from the prying ears of the ANBU guarding the Hokage Tower, Sasuke told her the full truth. He explained to her the background of Itachi’s mission, the coup, the fateful night of the massacre, and how the man behind the Nine-Tails attack sixteen years prior was a member of the Akatsuki and had revealed the truth to him.

“How did you get here?” Tsunade asked, handing Sasuke a cup of tea. Sakura handed tea to Jugo and Karin, while Suigetsu sipped from his water bottle. The office was silent as Sasuke spoke, his voice wavering.

“The man, he said he was Madara,” he began. “He tried to take Itachi’s body, and I… we grabbed it first, and took off. Karin noticed that he was alive, and my first thought was to bring him to Sakura,”

“Madara?” Tsunade let out a chuckle. “He’s been dead for years. It must be an imposter. Did he, by any chance, follow you? And what of Itachi’s Akatsuki partner?”

“I don’t know,” Sasuke said, looking down at the teacup in his hand.

“I have to ask, as Hokage,” she said, leaning against her desk. “Are you officially coming back to the village?”

“I have some requests if you want me back,”

“I healed your brother, who is an S-rank missing nin with kill on sight warrants in all Five Great Nations,” Tsunade said. “I understand what you told me, and I’ll look into the truth of the massacre. But, you and your little team could be arrested at the snap of my fingers. What more do you want?”

“I just want revenge on the council that sealed the fate of my family and for the truth to be made public,” Sasuke said, Mangekyo Sharingan whirling. “And my last request is that you transplant my eyes into Itachi, and his into me,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I going off the whole "oh Itachi actually lives" concept? You bet.   
> I've had this sitting in my writing folder for months. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! It means a lot :)


	2. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke goes through two separate reunions.

The transplant went through fine. Sasuke came to with bandages wrapped tightly around his eyes, the sound of bickering loud in his room.

“I don’t care who you are, he’s our teammate!”

Sasuke wanted to groan. Of course Suigetsu would wake him up with that loud mouth of his.

“He’s my friend, ya know!”

“And my former student, so I advise you, whoever you are, to step aside,” Kakashi’s stern voice cut through. “I don’t know why you have the Executioner’s Blade, but we’ll discuss that later,”

“I want to see Sasuke!” Naruto shouted, and it sounded like there was a scuffle.

“All of you!” Sakura shouted, the room silencing. “Out!”

He heard the shuffle of feet as he counted for Kakashi, Naruto, Jugo and Suigetsu.

“Karin, can you help me?” Sakura asked, shutting the door and locking it. “Alright, Sasuke. I know you’re awake,”

“You told them I was back?” he asked, moving his head in the direction of her voice.

“No, Tsunade did,” Sakura said, sighing. “I knew you’d want to keep it a secret. Now, you should be healed enough for those bandages to come off,”

Sakura walked over to his hospital bed, guiding him to sit up. Karin kept her hand on his back as Sakura carefully removed the bandages from around his eyes.

“Keep your eyes shut, and we’ll have you open them slowly, so you can adjust,” she said, getting up to shut off the lights and close the blinds. “You’ll probably be sensitive to light for a few days, but it will go away,”

“Can I open them?” he asked, frustration in the inability to open them in his voice.

“Yeah,”

The room was blurry, but as he blinked, it came more into focus. His eyesight had begun to blur shortly before the transplant, but now his vision was crystal clear. Karin pulled him into a tight hug, which he slowly returned.

“Thank you, Sakura,” he said, meeting her eyes. “I’m sorry, for everything,”

Sakura avoided eye contact, but he didn’t miss the tears that she tried to cover.

“You idiot,” she said, shaking her head. “Let me get Naruto,”

 

“Sasuke!” Naruto shouted, bursting into the room. He immediately ran to Sasuke, throwing his arms around him tightly. “You’re back,”

“It’s not permanent,” Sasuke said, mumbling into Naruto’s shoulder. It felt like home, being held by Naruto. He was warm and smelled like the sun and fresh air. He suddenly remembered their fight in the Valley of the End, how he had left Naruto alone. Sasuke found himself holding onto Naruto tighter, not caring if he hurt him. He needed to hold him, as if he would slip from his grasp.

Naruto’s shoulders trembled as he let out a cry, burying his face into Sasuke’s shoulder.

“I missed you, so much, ya know?” Naruto sobbed. “I thought about you every day,”

Kakashi entered the room next, giving a small wave.

“It’s good to see you, Sasuke,” he said. He felt himself genuinely smile as he took in the faces of his team. They may be grown, but he still saw the little genin he took on when he looked at them.

“I’m sorry,” Sasuke said, and Kakashi was stunned to see his student begin to sob. “I’m so sorry,”

Sakura moved to sit beside Naruto, wrapping her arms around them both.

The three cried in each other’s arms, and cried even worse when Kakashi held them all, Team Seven reunited.

 

“We’ll be right here if you need us,” Karin said, giving Sasuke’s hand a small squeeze. Sasuke took in a deep breath, opening the door to Itachi’s room.

Tsunade had appointed a permanent jonin guard in front of the door to prevent any Root from coming in, giving Sasuke and Taka clearance as soon as he recovered from his transplant. Itachi was still recovering, she said, and was unconscious.

“He should wake up within the week,” she had said.

Itachi was asleep in his hospital bed, the steady rise and fall of his chest sending a wave of relief through Sasuke. He was hooked up to several monitors, but otherwise looked fine. His face was still pale but had more color than the haunting white his face had been when Sasuke had grabbed his body and run.

“The Hokage set us up in an inn, right outside the village,” Jugo said, watching Sasuke. “We should all go rest,”

“I need to stay here,” Sasuke said, turning to his team. “I need to be here when he wakes up,”

“Don’t wear yourself out,” Suigetsu said. “Send Garuda if you need us,”

“You just want to go for a swim,” Karin said. “I really don’t want to leave you alone,”

“You just want more time with Sasuke,” Suigetsu teased.

“No,” Karin said, shaking her head. “I sense something evil in this village. I don’t feel comfortable leaving Sasuke alone,”

“We’ll take shifts, then,” Suigetsu said, shrugging.

“Jugo, Suigetsu, go back to the inn,” Sasuke said, his gaze going back to his brother. “Karin and I can stay. I’ll let you know when he wakes up,”

“What are you going to do when he does wake up?” Suigetsu asked. “He’s probably not going to be happy when he realizes that he’s here, and that you know his secret,”

“I don’t know,” Sasuke sighed. “But I’ll deal with it when I get there,”

 

 

The first thing he noticed when he came to is that he couldn’t see.

His hands were cuffed to what seemed to be a bed, the heavy smell of antiseptic in the air suffocating. The only sounds filling the silence were steady beeps from a machine, and he was suddenly aware of the needle in his arm.

He had to be in a hospital.

Panic started to settle deep in his chest. The last thing he remembered was reaching out to poke Sasuke’s forehead, feeling his body give out from the immense pain as he collapsed forward. He vaguely remembered hitting his head against the wall before falling to the ground, but he had assumed death had taken him.

There was a warm lump on his stomach, and if he moved his hand slightly, he felt what seemed to be a shoulder.

“Itachi?”

The panic bubbled over upon hearing Sasuke’s worried voice, the beeps from the machine reflecting the panicked beat of his heart.

Sasuke picked his head up from where he had laid it on Itachi’s side, scrambling out of his seat. He pushed the door to the room, nearly knocking into a nurse as he took off down the hall. His heart was pounding hard in his chest as he pushed open the door to Tsunade’s office, startling the Hokage and her pupil.

“Sasuke, what’s wrong?” Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow. She had been in the middle of handing a report to Tsunade, who seemed to be nursing a hangover.

“He’s awake,” Sasuke said, hands shaking. “Itachi’s awake,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


	3. Skipping Stones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaving the Akatsuki and returning to the Hidden Mist goes a lot easier than expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my favorite headcanons is Mei, Kisame and Zabuza being on a genin team, so I worked that into this story.

Amegakure’s rain was relentless as it poured heavily, leaving the whole village a thick shroud of water. It was getting difficult to maneuver through the streets, villagers running for cover.

“I trust you’ll do what you deem is right,” Konan said, her voice barely audible over the downpour. “I know how much he meant to you,”

Kisame remained quiet, following Konan through the street as they made their way to the tower.

“I have no real reason to stay,” Kisame admitted, holding his cloak out to shield her from the rain. “You have no reason to help me,”

“I do not like Madara,” she said, malice dripping from her voice. “I know you dislike him, as well. Itachi confided in me that he assisted during the massacre, and I hold nothing but anger against a man who forced a child into murdering his whole clan,”

“For someone this village considers an angel,” Kisame said, finding himself smile. “You sure do have the aura of a demon when you’re upset. It kind of reminds me of my former teammate, the Demon of the Mist,”

“And you’re the monster,” Konan said, sighing. “We’re here,”

Stepping into the tower, the two made their way towards their meeting room. Pein and Madara were seated, watching them as they entered the room.

“You failed to capture Taka?” Madara asked, looking to Kisame.

“They didn’t leave a trail,” he lied. “It seems that the brats simply disappeared,”

“What will you do now?” Pein asked.

“Maybe I’ll spread my wings and roam for a bit,” Kisame said. “Who knows,”

“You’re dismissed, Kisame,”

Konan gave him the smallest flash of a smile as he walked past her, a silent promise.

Time to take his leave.

 

The Hidden Mist surely had changed since he last was there. The village itself was starting to prosper, the end of an era stained in blood and malice under the new Mizukage.

Security was just as bad, though, since Kisame managed to sneak into the Mizukage’s office with little resistance.

“What are you doing here?” Ao asked, putting himself in front of Mei. Chojuro, the nervous little thing, wielded Hiramekarei with trembling hands, his stance too wide.

“I’m sure you have a reason to return, Kisame Hoshigaki,” Mei Terumi spoke as elegantly as ever, placing a reassuring hand on Ao’s shoulder. “Hopefully, it’s not to collect my head, because I’ll melt you where you stand,”

“I would never harm you, Mei,” Kisame said, feeling at ease at the fond smile she gave him. “I have intel on the Akatsuki. I want immunity, and to return to the village,”

“That’s a bold statement,” Mei circled her desk, holding her hand out. Kisame handed her a scroll containing information about Yagura being under the influence of Madara, watching her skim through it. “I knew you weren’t the monster you tried to make yourself out to be. You and Zabuza,”

There was a sad look in her eye as she looked at her former teammate, remembering fighting and bleeding at his side when they were genin. Memories of skipping rocks at the lake before Kisame was recruited into the ANBU, a candidate for the sword he now proudly carried.

“I’m worried what the other nations will say,” Ao said. “They’re not going to be happy that you just accepted him back with open arms,”

“I think Lady Hokage will back me,” she simply said. “Besides, I think an alliance with Konoha would benefit us all,”

 

“Why are you truly back?” Mei asked, flinging the smooth stone with ease, watching it skip across the lake. She had managed to sneak away from Ao and Chojuro, enjoying the quiet of the night. Since becoming Mizukage, she hardly had time to herself.

Kisame scanned the shore for a stone, picking up one that was mostly smooth. He skipped his, managing a few more skips than Mei’s first throw before sitting down.

“My partner died,”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Mei pouted. “Partner in the Akatsuki?”

“Partner, in general,” Kisame responded, watching Mei look around for a rock. It was just like their genin days, sneaking out late at night, standing by the shore in pajamas. The only missing thing was Zabuza’s commentary, the gruff insults he used to throw out absent in the cool night. Mei looked ridiculous, now, out of her formal gear and in blue silk pajamas, a gift from the daimyo, searching for rocks to skip with a missing nin.

“Oh,” Mei said. “Romantic?”

Kisame ignored her question, opting to toss her a smooth stone. Mei skipped it, getting one more than Kisame’s last throw.

“As Mizukage, I demand that you answer,” she said, sitting down beside him. “Or else I’ll have you thrown in jail,”

“You’d never,”

“True, but I’m nosy and I want to know what you’ve been up to this past decade,” Mei sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder. “I got so worried when you and Zabuza left. I thought we all wanted to change this village, and you idiots made me do it all myself,”

Kisame let out a quiet laugh, fiddling with the ring on his left hand.

“I wanted to be there,” he said. “I was going to come back sooner, but then I got my partner, and I had to put him as my priority,”

“Tell me about him,” Mei said, turning to grab the small pack she brought. She pulled out a bottle of sake, which pulled a hearty laugh from Kisame.

“Wow, just like old times,” he teased, watching her take a sip. She handed him the bottle, letting him drink. “Remember when we stole that expensive whiskey, and Zabuza drank it all on us?”

“And we thought he died?” Mei finished, laughing. “He was hungover for almost a week after that,”

Their laughter quieted down, Mei letting out a deep sigh as she drank some more.

“I miss our genin days. We made a good team, the three of us,”

“We really did,”

The Demon, the Siren, the Monster. Monikers they had earned through countless battles, fighting for a village that was corrupted and controlled by a puppet ruler.

Since Itachi’s death, this was the calmest Kisame had felt. It was nostalgic, skipping rocks with Mei and drinking stolen alcohol, like how they did when they were teenagers, constantly taking dangerous missions. He felt his shoulders relax, leaning a bit onto Mei as she drank more.

“But really, tell me about your partner,” Mei said. “He must have meant a lot to you,”

“He does,” Kisame said, looking out at the still water of the lake.

“So, tell me about him,” Mei said, handing him the bottle. “I talked your ear off about boys and girls when we were young, so it’s your turn,”

“He’s amazing,” he said. “The strongest person I know,”

“I take it I should know who he is?”

“Itachi,”

“Uchiha?”

“Yes,”

“Oh, dear,” Mei placed a hand on his back, rubbing circles. “You always liked the dangerous ones,”

“I love him,” Kisame said, frowning. “But he’s dead now, and none of that matters, because I never got to fully tell him,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


	4. No Longer "Traitor"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone's not too keen on being alive and awake.

Itachi ended up passing out from having a panic attack, which ended up panicking Sasuke. It took Tsunade yelling at him and threatening to throw him out of the room to quiet him, the Sannin groaning as she went to the elder Uchiha’s bedside to check on him.

“He passed out,” Tsunade said. “He had a panic attack. He’ll be fine, Sasuke,”

Tsunade set to remove the bandages around his eyes.

“We’re going to address the public once he’s recovered,” Shizune said to Sasuke. “Tsunade and I stayed up all night and found his original mission scroll, and we have them sealed in a safe place. We have Kakashi and Yamato trailing Danzo, to make sure he doesn’t try to attack you,”

“I hate Danzo, anyway,” Tsunade grumbled. “He’s always hated me. I’m not my great uncle. I’m my grandfather’s granddaughter, and if that bothers him so much, so be it,”

Sasuke watched as Tsunade pulled away the last of the bandages, revealing the rest of Itachi’s face. Even though he had panicked, his face was calm as he slept. Sasuke had the urge to rush to his side, to hug him tightly and cry.

Memories of Itachi came to mind, the night of the massacre forever haunting him. He also remembered Itachi giving him piggyback rides, holding him close when he had nightmares as a child, being more of a parent than his actual parents at times. Itachi sticking up for him in front of their father, trying to get the stubborn man to acknowledge his youngest son, and not just the eldest. Itachi seated in their mother’s lap as she brushed his hair, humming a song as she braided the inky locks to match her braid.

Part of him wanted to just punch him as hard as he could, as many times as he could until his knuckles shattered, to scream at him for his foolishness and for putting him through so much pain, for choosing his life over the village. The other part just wanted to forgive him, to have things go back to the way they once were.

That would never happen, so long as all the members of the Uchiha clan lay in the cemetery.

“He should wake up soon,” Tsunade placed a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder. “I’ll leave you two,”

She left, Shizune and Sakura trailing after. Sasuke grabbed a piece of paper from the bedside table, quickly scribbling a message for Taka. Going to the window, he summoned Garuda to take the note, petting the hawk’s beak before sending him off.

“Why?”

Itachi’s voice startled Sasuke, forcing him to turn around to see the teary expression on the clan slayer’s face. The pained look on his face made Sasuke hurt even worse, watching as his brother tried to fight back his tears.

“I’m supposed to be dead,” he said, voice trembling. “You were supposed to kill me, to be the hero,”

“I know about your mission, Itachi,” Sasuke said, taking a hesitant step forward. His body moved on his own as he sat himself beside his brother, swallowing the lump in his throat. “Madara told me, but he tried to take your eyes. I just…I couldn’t let him do that to you, so we came here,”

“I’m in Konoha,” Itachi sighed. “You’re so foolish, Sasuke,”

“Tsunade healed you,” Sasuke said.

“You have my eyes,” Itachi said. “And I have yours, correct?”

“Yeah,”

Itachi gave Sasuke a weak smile, raising a hand and poking his forehead.

“That explains why I can see,” he said. Sasuke felt his face heat up, pouting. “You’ve really grown, Sasuke,”

“Don’t do that,” he said, swatting his hand away from his face. “Why did you lie to me?”

“I thought you were too young to understand,” Itachi’s smile quickly faded. “Where is Danzo?”

“Being monitored, why?”

“He has Shisui’s eye,” Itachi said, trying to get up. “We have to go,”

“You need to stay in bed!” Sasuke shouted, trying to get Itachi to lie back down. Itachi suddenly dispersed into a murder of crows, slipping from Sasuke’s grasp. He reformed a few feet away, panting heavily, standing on weak legs as he gripped at the IV stand he was still attached to.

“Can you even walk on your own?” Sasuke asked, not wanting to bother helping him stand since he had been so adamant.

Itachi was silent for a moment, before taking a wobbly step. Sasuke was there, letting him lean on him as his brother took his first few steps after coming back from the brink of death.

Itachi had been the one who had taught Sasuke how to walk, and it was now his turn to help Itachi walk.

 

“Well, look at you two idiots,” Suigetsu said, watching as Sasuke and Itachi walked towards them. “Breaking out of the hospital without us?”

“I’m not breaking out,” Itachi said, frowning. “I need to find Lady Hokage,”

“You two look ridiculous,” Karin said. “And you look like shit, Itachi,”

“I don’t like your friends that much,” Itachi said to Sasuke, gripping his arm for support.

“I don’t think you should be up walking,” Jugo said. “Sit down for a minute, please,”

Itachi huffed, sitting down in one of the waiting room chairs. Sasuke collapsed by his side, exhausted.

The familiar click of heels came down the corridor of the hospital, a very upset Hokage storming up to the remaining Uchiha.

“For a genius, you sure are an idiot,” Tsunade said. “As Hokage, I demand you return to your room and rest,”

“No,” Itachi said, forcing himself to stand. “I need to go find Danzo immediately,”

“Like hell you are!” Tsunade said. “You can barely stand on your own, let alone probably defend yourself,”

“He has Shisui Uchiha’s eye,” Itachi said. “And countless others, on his arm. It’s made from cells from your grandfather, Lady Hokage,”

Tsunade frowned, folding her arms over her chest.

“You may go find him, but only after you recover, if we haven’t found him first,” she said. “Then, we’re making the truth of the massacre public,”

“No, you will not,” Itachi said, Sharingan staring down the Hokage. “I refuse,”

“I’m revoking your status as a missing nin,” Tsunade said. “You were a child,”

“I had a duty to my village,”

“You were _thirteen_ ,” Tsunade reiterated. “You were a _child_ ,”

“I had to, or else there would have been a civil war,” Itachi said. “I couldn’t watch that happen,”

“You fought an adult’s fight,” she said. “You truly are a kind child,”

Those words.

Itachi remembered those words, spoken by his father moments before he drove the katana through his chest.

Sasuke noticed the tremble in Itachi’s shoulders, and for the third time in his life, saw his brother openly cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> I'll try to update as regularly as possible.


	5. To Feel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taka and Team Seven spend a bit of time together.
> 
> Sasuke has a lot on his mind.

Between the two best healers in the Five Great Nations, Itachi was back to his feet within the week.

Tsunade had poured through countless medical texts and test results, searching for some form of answer. The easiest part is that his illness mainly attacked his lungs, but the damage had been so great that she and Sakura had to spend hours extracting clots and clearing his lungs before touching the damage. With the healing they had done, he would be fine for at least another two years before the disease would start back up, so she had considered it a brief victory. It would give her more time to focus on a cure, skimming old medical texts left in her name from Mito Uzumaki. There had to be some way to cure him. She was the Godaime, and on top of that, one of the Legendary Sannin, the woman who was the forefront of changing the medical world.

She still was unsure, but it did warm her heart to see Sasuke, once the angry child she had met, now frantically doting on his elder brother. It had pained her to read over her teacher’s original order, his signature scrawled at the end of the scroll.

As Hokage, she felt that it was her duty to make amends for the actions of those before her. She was the protector of the village her grandfather created. He had created it hand in hand with Madara, and it pained her to know that his last two descendants were only alive on a whim, nothing more. The elders had wanted to completely erase the Uchiha from their history, wanting a more Senju-centric foundation story.

It left a bitter taste in her mouth.

 

“This is kind of really awkward,” Naruto admitted, letting out a nervous laugh. Sakura, Sai and Naruto sat beside Karin, Jugo and Suigetsu at Ichiraku. It had been Sai who had proposed to Naruto and Sakura that they meet Sasuke’s new team, and possibly become friends. He had asked with a genuine smile and a quote from a book on making friends that Sakura hadn’t had the heart to tell him no.

So, there they were, all crammed into the ramen stall.

“Sasuke said you’re an Uzumaki,” Naruto said, leaning forward to glance at Karin. Suigetsu noticed her bristle up at the blunt statement, and he almost wanted to tease her, but he knew the subject of her heritage was a sensitive one. “Is that true?”

“I don’t see why it matters,” she said, staring down at her pork bowl. “Uzushio is gone, as are most of the Uzumakis,”

“I’m an Uzumaki, too,” Naruto said, using his chopsticks to point at her. “I want to know more about them,”

Jugo looked over his bowl of ramen to glance at Karin. She looked confused, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth as she fiddled with the chopsticks in her hands.

“I just can’t believe you brats took down my teacher,” Suigetsu said, eating loudly. “I mean, Zabuza was strong,”

“We didn’t kill him,” Sakura interjected. “He got hurt,”

“He tried to kill us, ya know!” Naruto chimed in. “But he and Haku were super cool, in the end,”

“Yeah, he was pretty cool,” Suigetsu nodded. The silence was filled with the slurping of noodles, Sai observing more than actually eating.

“Are there any aviaries here?” Jugo asked Sakura, watching her sit ramrod straight. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,”

“No, it’s alright,” Sakura waved it off, nervous energy buzzing through her. “Uh, there’s one up by the stone faces, I think. Would you want to see them?”

“Yes,”

 

There was something about Sasuke’s new team that had made Sakura want to pick apart each individual, she thought. Jugo held a hand out, birds flocking to rest on his arm. He had a fond smile as he listened to them chirping happily within the safety of the aviary. Karin was off to the side, frowning at Suigetsu, who complained about stepping in bird shit.

This was the team Sasuke had chosen. Not his given team, their team. Team Seven was dysfunctional. Sakura could acknowledge that, the lack of confidence on her own behalf, Sasuke’s drive for revenge and Naruto’s all around knuckle headedness created the worst damage-based team Konoha had to offer. She figured it out easily, she was a smart girl, that the academy had originally placed them all to be the team that could deal the most damage. Kiba, Shino and Hinata were better suited for tracking, specializing them into a separate category. Ino-Shika-Cho had to remain a team no matter what, which left little room.

This team, however, seemed to work in sync with little to no communication. They moved as a unit, as if they had been by each other’s sides their whole lives.

It made her jealous, but oddly relieved to know that when Sasuke didn’t have Team Seven, he had Taka.

“What are you thinking about?” Sai asked, leaning over her shoulder to talk into her ear. Sakura only jumped a bit, an improvement, given that Sai had a habit of sneaking up on everyone.

“I’m just relieved that Sasuke had these three,” she said, keeping her voice low in fear of them hearing her.

“Karin, look!” Suigetsu pointed at a particularly bright red bird. “It’s you!”

“Shut up, Suigetsu!” she shouted, a punch resounding with the splash of water.

 

It was late into the night when Sasuke finally reached the inn, tiredness seeping into his bones like the sudden downpour. He wanted a hot bath, warm clothes, and nothing more than to sleep for at least a few hours.

He had sat with Itachi for what seemed like hours, talking. Talking about the massacre, bringing up old wounds that still bled, cuts that were still deep gouges. Itachi spoke little of his time in the Akatsuki, mainly speaking in long winded soliloquies, thoughts tapering off into comfortable silence.

Sasuke hated him. He hated him so much, but he loved him just as fiercely. Itachi was his brother, after all. He always was, and always would be. He couldn’t forgive what had happened that night, the pain Itachi had caused him, but he was willing to try.

Try to understand, to grow, to move on.

Sasuke and Itachi were both thirteen when they left the village, both on bitter notes. The truth of the massacre, still new knowledge to him, gave him conflicting views about Konoha.

He couldn’t stay, as much as a small part of him might, since it was his home.

It hadn’t been home in three years.

“Hey, welcome back,” Suigetsu chimed up from the floor, lazily spooning yogurt into his mouth. “How was your sibling bonding time?”

“Hm,” Sasuke stepped over him, resisting the urge to plant his foot on Suigetsu’s stomach. He trudged over to his pack, grabbing clean sleep clothes before making his way to the bathroom.

 

Sasuke stayed in the scalding hot water of the bath for what seemed like an eternity. The water turned his skin a painful red, but he let himself feel the pain, the familiar burn.

Everything was different. His heart felt heavy, his mind constantly turning and worry settling deep. His feelings were scattered all over the place, and emotionally, he felt drained.

Right now, he was feeling nothing, and the sting of the bathwater helped him feel something.

There was a soft knock on the door, before Jugo let himself in. He held a large towel, moving to sit on the closed toilet next to the tub.

“You should get out soon,” he advised. “It’s late, and I know you haven’t slept in two days,”

“I’ll sleep when I need to,” Sasuke spat out, almost instantly regretting it once he noticed the frown on Jugo’s face.

Jugo simply sighed, reaching over and holding the towel out.

Sasuke leaned forward, pulling the drain from the tub. Jugo helped him stand, wrapping him in the towel that felt warm and soft. Exhaustion seemed to catch up to him as he barely kept his eyes open to dress.

Suigetsu had dragged their futons all out into the middle of their room, making one large space. Karin pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail, nestling under the covers and setting her glasses aside. Jugo turned off the light, letting Sasuke blindly make his way over.

Once they settled, Sasuke in the middle, as always, silence filled the room. Suigetsu curled up on Sasuke’s right, an arm draped over his chest. Karin nestled into his other side, her ear over his heart, hearing the steady thrum. Jugo pulled the blanket over them all, a large arm wrapping around them all from his place at Karin’s other side.

Sasuke was surrounded by people who cared for him, and the thought made him choke up.

A soft sniffle broke through the silence, Suigetsu moving his hand to find his, giving it a squeeze. Karin brought a hand to his chest, letting it rest, warm chakra flowing through. Jugo held them all a little tighter, the moonlight streaming through the windows revealing tears.

“We’re here for you,” Suigetsu said. “Even if you can be a moody jerk,”

“Suigetsu,” Karin said, but her voice held no threat.

“Everyone, we should sleep,” Jugo whispered. “Goodnight, Karin. Goodnight, Sasuke. Goodnight, Suigetsu,”

“Night Jugo. Night Sasuke,” Suigetsu yawned, pressing his face into Sasuke’s shoulder. “Night, bitch,”

“Night asshole,” Karin almost laughed. “Night Jugo. Goodnight, Sasuke,”

The room grew quiet as Sasuke willed himself to stop crying, hating the fact that he showed some form of weakness to his team.

“Goodnight,” he whispered, letting himself relax into the warmth of his team.

He slept without nightmares that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I've had this as a side project when I'm not doing classwork, and I'm enjoying writing it.


	6. New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karin gets some much needed time away from the boys.

Sun streamed into the room, warm on his face as he lazily came to. Sasuke was still trapped to the bed, Suigetsu drooling on his shoulder. Jugo was awake, content in just looking at Sasuke. Karin’s soft snoring filled the silence, bringing about an ease Sasuke hadn’t felt in a long time.

He remembered the time he spent recovering after the fight against Deidara, who seemed to hate his brother with a burning passion. Recovering in an inn, Jugo caring for him while Karin fretted about, trying to make salve for his burns. Suigetsu had just chimed in useless commentary, but it had been too stressful of a time for him to truly enjoy the presence of his teammates.

A silent morning waking slowly, coming back to reality at their own pace.

Suigetsu was the last to wake, as usual, only waking once Karin kicked him lightly in his back to nudge him awake.

“I want to go to a teashop,” Sasuke said suddenly, his first words that morning.

 

He hated sweets.

It had been the teashop Itachi and his partner visited when they had snuck into Konoha. Suigetsu was just happy that they offered yogurt, eating through eight cups. Karin spooned a piece of cake into her mouth, watching Sasuke wearily.

“I thought you hated sweets, Sasuke,” she said, raising her teacup to her lips.

“I do,” Sasuke said, taking the dango from the waitress. “These aren’t for me,”

“Ah,” she noted, finishing the cup of sweet rose tea.

Jugo watched as Itachi, escorted by Kakashi and Yamato, entered the teashop. The eldest Uchiha whispered something to the two former ANBU, the two disappearing shortly after. Itachi slid into the seat beside Sasuke, accepting the cup of tea he offered.

“Good morning,” Itachi greeted, giving them a small smile.

“I ordered you sencha, since I didn’t know what you would want,” Sasuke supplied, sliding the tray of dango towards his brother. “Here,”

“How thoughtful,” Itachi couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “Thank you, Sasuke,”

“Hm,” Sasuke went back to his tea.

The five sat in awkward silence, suddenly aware of how odd the situation was.

Suigetsu wasn’t the smartest on the team, but he recognized how uncomfortable Sasuke seemed. From what he had told him before they had formed the rest of then Hebi, Sasuke had hated his brother and only lived to see him draw his last breath. Suigetsu had been the opposite, having witnessed his brother die in battle, deeply upset. Mangetsu was the greatest person in his mind and seeing Sasuke hate his brother had confused him to an extent.

Now, here they were, sitting in a teashop, having breakfast.

“So,” Suigetsu said, pointing his spoon towards Itachi. “Tell me about your partner, from the Akatsuki. Do you know where he is? I’m itching for a rematch, and for Samehada,”

Confusion flashed across Itachi’s face, stopping his chewing for a moment.

“What do you wish to know about Kisame?”

“I want Samehada,”

Itachi let out a huff similar to laughter.

“I don’t think that’s feasible,”

“I’m gonna find all the swords, and wield them all just like my big brother,” Suigetsu said. “I need Samehada for that,”

Itachi thought for a moment, sipping at his tea.

“I personally believe that you’ll never get that sword unless Kisame somehow dies of old age, or he gives it to you out of the kindness of his heart, the latter option impossible,” Itachi said smugly. “But, I wish you the best of luck if you have a death wish and choose to go try to fight him,”

Karin elbowed Suigetsu, shutting him up before he could respond.

“How have we not been noticed?” Jugo asked. “I mean, all of our faces are probably in the Bingo Book,”

Sasuke shrugged, setting his cup down.

“I’m going for a walk,” he said, setting down enough ryo to cover for their things, and extra. Itachi got up, following after.

“Well, looks like this is an ‘Uchiha only’ event, and we’re excluded,” Suigetsu rolled his eyes.

 

“Hey, isn’t that Sasuke’s new teammate?” Ino whispered into Sakura’s ear, pointing over at where Karin was. She was looking at a stall of herbs, and Sakura noticed her pick up Valerian root.

“Yeah, that’s Karin,” Sakura wracked her brain, watching her pick up specific herbs to help aid sleep. Was Sasuke having trouble sleeping?

“Looks like we have a new rival, Forehead,” Ino teased, leaning onto Sakura.

“No,” she shook her head. “I gave up on Sasuke a while ago. The love I have for him is more…”

Sakura bit her cheek, trying to think of how to properly phrase it.

“It’s the love I feel for Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei,” she settled on. “It’s familial, and deep, but not romantic. I love Sasuke, but not the way I used to,”

“Oh? Do you love me?” Ino teased, watching the not so subtle blush creep its way to Sakura’s cheeks.

“Of course, Ino-Pig,”

“Should we say hi?” Ino asked, noticing Karin getting closer towards where they sat outside.

“Hey, Karin!” Sakura called out, watching the redhead startle, turning towards their direction. Sakura waved her over, watching Karin pay for the herbs and taking the bag from the vendor.

“What do you want?” was the response Karin gave, pushing her glasses up.

“We just wanted to say hi,” Ino said, giving her a smile. “We’re having a girl’s night tonight. Wanna come? It must get pretty boring, being around those boys all day,”

Karin looked a bit baffled at the concept of being invited to a sleepover, Sakura noticing in the tremble of her frame.

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” Sakura supplied. “We were just going to crash at Ino’s house, and watch a movie,”

“Why are you being nice?” Karin asked, looking at her wearily. “I thought you hated me,”

“Why would I hate you?”

“Because I spend time with Sasuke?” Karin said.

“I want to know you more,” Sakura admitted. “You’re related to Naruto, somehow, and you’re Sasuke’s teammate. You seem nice, when you’re not yelling,”

“I don’t yell!” Karin contradicted herself, clutching the paper bag of herbs in her hand.

“We’re both healers,” Sakura said. “I want to know more about your healing jutsu,”

Karin calmed down, shifting from foot to foot.

“I’ll…ask the boys,” she said, looking down at her feet.

“We’ll grab you!” Ino said. “We know where you’re staying, yeah? Bring pajamas, and we’ll see you later!”

Before being dragged off, Sakura gave Karin a small wave, noticing the blush on her face.

 

There was only one person she could ask for true, honest advice.

“I think you should go,” Jugo said, turning to peer over his shoulder. Sasuke had come back from his walk with his brother, eyes red and puffy. He was now lounging on his side in their room at the inn, easily beating Suigetsu at shogi. “You’re always around us. It’s not a bad thing, but you should have more female friends,”

“We all know it’s hard to make friends,” Karin admitted. Memories of being in the Sound flashed up, a constant reminder that people were temporary beings.

Karin had been close with Kin and Tayuya, and upon their deaths, Orochimaru had just told her to forget it, as if they had been nothing. She had steeled herself from making friends, until Sasuke asked her to join Hebi.

“I think it would be good for you,” Jugo reiterated. “Have a day off, in a sense, from dealing with us,”

“I don’t know,” Karin bit her lip. She could still sense that evil chakra, which made her worry about leaving Sasuke alone for long periods of time.

“Go, Karin,” Sasuke said. “The worst they’ll do it talk about boys. I don’t think Ino’s changed much from the Academy,”

“Yeah, go,” Suigetsu said, flipping the shogi board after Sasuke won. Again. “I don’t wanna see your ugly mug more than I have to,”

Karin knew there was no real venom behind his words, and she just rolled her eyes.

When Ino showed up, loudly bursting into their room around six at night, Karin was ready, a small bag packed.

 

It wasn’t as bad as she originally thought. Ino’s parents were out for the night, letting the girls have the house to themselves. When Karin came in, she saw Sakura in the kitchen, helping another girl bake cupcakes.

“Hey-o, I’m back!” Ino sang, jumping into her kitchen. “Hinata, Tenten, I want you to meet Karin,”

“H-hi,” Karin recognized Hinata vaguely, watching her give a nervous wave with the hand that wasn’t stirring cupcake batter.

Tenten gave her a warm smile, looking different with her hair down, brown flowing down her shoulders. Sakura turned around from the oven to give Karin a wave, sliding the first batch of cupcakes out of the oven to cool.

“We’re making vanilla, chocolate and strawberry,” Ino rambled, pulling Karin into the kitchen. “Wanna help frost them?”

“Uh, yeah,”

Maybe Jugo was right, it wasn’t a terrible idea.

 

“Ugh, I feel so bad for you,” Tenten said, holding Karin’s hand in hers as she painted her nails lavender. “If I had to be paired with the boys and had no time for myself, I think I’d go crazy,”

“It’s not bad,” Karin said, watching her stroke the brush against her nails. Ino insisted on doing at home manicures and pedicures after Karin told her she had never done her nails before, and so far, she was enjoying it. They had made a small dinner, mostly eating the cookies and cupcakes they had baked. A movie played in the background on the TV, the plot drowned out.

“Wanna hear embarrassing stories about Sasuke?” Ino teased. “Forehead’s got plenty,”

Sakura snickered, taking a bite of her strawberry cupcake.

“Our first mission was to the Land of Waves,” she began. “And he was so stubborn, and he kept failing at the tree-climbing exercise Kakashi-sensei gave us. I won, by the way,”

“Yes, we know,” Tenten rolled her eyes. “You have the best chakra control around here,”

“And, Sasuke and Naruto kept trying to one-up each other the whole trip,” Sakura continued. “They kept trying to out-eat one another, and they both threw up because they ate too much,”

“Ew,” Hinata scrunched her nose up. “Naruto did that?”

“Yeah,” Sakura blew on her nails. “Ugh, and Sasuke one time made us go do this mission for the cat lady, and we had to wear these cat ears, all for a stupid paw print,”

Karin found herself smiling, listening to Sakura ramble about old missions, Ino joining in. Tenten chimed in about her boys, and how she was going crazy having an ecstatic sensei such as Gai.

“What about you, Karin?” Hinata asked.

“Yeah, what’s it like travelling with your team?” Tenten asked, genuinely curious.

Karin thought, looking down at her newly painted nails.

“It’s like dealing with three toddlers. One’s stupid and can barely walk straight, one has anger issues at the drop of a hat, and the other has his head stuck so far up his own ass,” she said, listening to the girls laugh. “But they’re not bad,”

“Really?” Ino asked. “What about that one you’re always punching around?”

“Suigetsu? Oh, he’s dumber than a fish,” Karin said, watching Ino snicker.

“Yeah, I get that,” Sakura said. “Naruto can be really stupid sometimes,”

“Kiba still can’t properly lace his sandals,” Hinata admitted. “Kurenai-sensei helps him all the time,”

“Yeah, cause he’s a dumbass,” Ino giggled. “Choji eats Asuma out of house and home so much that Lord Third once had to tap into Konoha’s treasury to pay off the bill,”

“Don’t get me started on Lee,” Tenten warned, resulting into the girls erupting into a fit of giggles.

It was nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really just wanted Karin to have some girl time away from the boys, and I feel like Ino's always one for making new friends. Thank you so much for reading!


	7. Planning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An update of the monster of Kirigakure and the angel of Amegakure.

Training Chojuro was…interesting.

Kisame side-stepped a swipe with Hiramekarei, keeping a distance as Chojuro swung at him. Mei was watching, having liberated herself from Ao’s side while he did paperwork in her office.

“You’re doing amazing, Chojuro dear,” she called, causing the swordsman to blush, giving Kisame an opening. He quickly swiped his leg, hitting behind Chojuro’s knee. The teen fell to the ground, the practice katana Kisame was using pointed at his throat.

“And you’re dead,” he said, looking disappointed. “Who trained you?”

“Raiga and Mangetsu,” Chojuro replied, taking the hand Kisame offered to help stand back up on his feet. “Raiga left shortly after, though, and Mangetsu died before he could finish training me,”

“That explains a lot,” Kisame noted. “You’re good with Hiramekarei, but your stances are too wide. You’re too nervous to go for the kill. Have you even mastered the Silent Killing?”

When Chojuro shook his head, Kisame sighed, shooting a glance at his former teammate.

“Go easy on him,” Mei warned.

“If we’re reviving the Swordsmen again, he needs to be properly trained,” Kisame said. “He’s not a true Swordsman, just a kid with a blade,”

“You sound like Ao,” Mei rolled her eyes, throwing her hands in the air. “Fine. But if he comes back to me with a hair misplaced, I’ll-”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kisame waved her off. “I know. You’ll melt me where I stand. I’ve heard that a thousand times before,”

Mei waved as she left, reminding them that they would go out to eat later and better not be late.

 

Ao was not pleased.

He had tried arguing with the Mizukage for what seemed like hours, just for her to simply shrug off his concerns. They were genuine, of course. Their former leader had been under the control of the Akatsuki, and here, a rogue from their village simply breaks into her office and is suddenly forgiven. Mei had sent a letter to the Sand and the Leaf, knowing they would be easier to convince.

The letters to the Cloud and to the Stone sat on her desk, knowing full well that the Raikage and Tsuchikage would tear her apart.

Mei was still a newer Kage. Not as new as Gaara, but the other villages watched her closer since the Bloody Mist ended. She had faced criticism before, and now, she would be criticized further since pardoning and accepting her former teammate.

Ao knew of them, since he was a bit older than her. He had just been made jonin when he had heard of the dangerous triad. Only genin, but feared throughout, they earned themselves their monikers, leaving a path of blood behind them.

Ao remembered hearing of a particular mission where Mei had been captured, and by the time her two teammates got to her, all the men had been melted to the bone.

The carnage had been so disgusting, even schooled jonin vomited at the sight.

Zabuza made himself a legend. Killing the entire class during the exam he wasn’t even a part of, his skill as a swordsman bringing him to become the wielder of the Executioner’s Blade as a teen. He had disappeared with a child he had found, and Ao remembered the failed coup.

Zabuza had left Yagura’s personal guard a mound of mutilated flesh, and it had taken a whole day to clear out the bodies.

Kisame he knew the least about. He knew of the mission with the Cypher Division, angry at the loss of his close friend, Miru. He knew how he had obtained his sword, and when he murdered the feudal lord shortly before leaving to join the Akatsuki. He knew his partner was the cousin of Shisui of the Body Flicker, an even deadlier shinobi.

Mei seemed to have faith in her partners. When he had first met her, all she talked about was how she hoped they would come to realize their dream as children was not out of reach. He remembered her near tears on her first day as Mizukage, shaky hands holding a teacup as she confided in him that she was afraid to rebuild without them, scared that doing it alone would not be as satisfying without them there.

He was really just worried about Mei.

He seemed a bit at ease as they all sat for dinner, Chojuro excitedly telling them everything Kisame had taught him. Said teacher was busy shoveling crab into his mouth, but the happiness on Mei’s face was genuine, and that was all that mattered.

She had some of what she had wanted. She still was sensitive on the subject of marriage, but she had one of her teammates back, and she had Chojuro, who she looked at like a proud mother does their child.

She looked the happiest he had seen her in some time, and that was enough to quell his concerns.

 

Amegakure was a constant downpour, the thick sheets of rain blanketing the village.

Nagato had been coughing constantly, the recent fit bringing him breathless and he wheezed to get more air in his lungs. Konan held a steady hand on his back, feeling the coughs wrack his body, knowing they were painful.

“I’m sorry, Konan,” he said once he settled.

“It’s alright,” she said, trying to keep her voice low and soothing. “I care about you,”

“I feel bad,” Nagato admitted. “I feel as if I’m burdening you by becoming my caretaker,”

“I love you,” Konan said. “I love you as I love Yahiko. You’ve never been a burden,”

That brought a smile to his lips, and the worry she had seemed to dissipate for a moment.

Zetsu interrupted them, strolling into the room with ‘Madara’.

Konan was not a stupid woman. As the student of one of the Sannin, she knew when to suspect people, and this ‘Madara’ had been suspicious from the start. She was happy to know that Kisame had shared the same suspicious and wariness, keeping a distance and reporting things to her.

“Itachi Uchiha is alive,” White Zetsu chimed in.

“As if he could die easily,” Black Zetsu argued. “He’s in the Leaf, with his brother,”

“It appears that my telling Sasuke of the truth behind the massacre backfired,” ‘Madara’ said, the visible eye glaring towards Konan. “Where has Kisame gone? Does he know?”

“He seems to have defected,” Konan said, lying the way Jiraiya taught her. “He told me that he had no reason to stay without Itachi, so no, he does not know,”

“He’s alive,” ‘Madara’ growled. “We’re retrieving him,”

“I don’t think so,” Nagato interjected. “Itachi would have escaped and come back to us. It appears, if he’s with his brother, that he wants to stay put,”

“What’s the point of that?” White Zetsu asked.

“I believe Itachi had ulterior motives within this organization,” Nagato admitted. “Now, with half of us gone, it seems clear that our plans will have to be postponed,”

Konan felt relief at Nagato’s delay of the plan. While she wanted a peaceful world, harming innocent civilians was not the way about it.

They had suffered as innocent civilians. She refused for more children to go through what they had.

After Madara left, she let Nagato lean on her as she created an origami butterfly, feeling him relax and sleep after being unable to follow her quick hand movements.

This was how she would obtain power, through a more benevolent way.

Whoever was impersonating Madara, though, had to go, and that was where she would need Kisame’s assistance.

Once Nagato was asleep, she began to craft paper bombs.

The lake was already at a thousand, and there was still more to go, Amegakure’s Angel creating the ultimate defense.


	8. Return Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi and Sasuke visit their childhood home. They both have different reactions.

Itachi feared this day, ever since he woke up in a hospital room in Konoha.

The Uchiha compound was untouched, years old caution tape still clinging to the wooden frame of the entrance. He felt rising panic grow in his chest, feeling the sudden taste of bile in the back of his throat.

Sasuke’s eyes, Sharingan active, flitted around, memorizing the sight.

He pulled his katana out, slicing through the tape.

“Let’s go,” he said, being the brave one and taking the first step.

The road was so foreign, yet welcoming. The ghost town the compound had become was eerily silent compared to the bustle of growing Konoha. Itachi had more memories of the compound than Sasuke, but the pain was still there.

As expected, everything was left the same. Sliding open the door to their family home, Itachi took a nervous step in.

“My room was cleaned out,” Sasuke said, turning to look at his brother.

It was difficult. He felt ready to burst into tears, the sudden hope that he would see his mother come around the corner, holding a basket of laundry or simply awaiting his arrival, the calm of knowing that her baby had made it home safe from a mission. Sasuke half expected to hear his father’s voice coming from the kitchen, commenting on the newspaper.

Layers of dust laid on everything, cobwebs in the corners.

Itachi took everything in, feeling his chest tighten.

He had caused this.

This had all been his fault.

Anxiety worked its way into his system, and before he knew it, he was on the floor, gasping for air. Sasuke simply held him, watching and trying to speak to him. Hot tears burned his eyes, his lungs burning for air as he felt an immense pain. The pain from his illness, which caused his lungs to ache, was nothing compared to this. That had felt dull, growing sharp with every cough. He had Kisame to help pat his back during those coughing fits, a cup of hot tea in hand to help soothe the ache. This felt like a constant barrage of knives in his chest, right where his heart was. It hurt so bad he screamed, something he hadn’t done since waking. He kept screaming, not noticing the tears streaming down his face until he could taste them, Sasuke yelling over him.

It lasted five minutes, which felt like an eternity. He screamed himself hoarse, finally able to listen to what his brother had been trying to tell him.

“Match your breathing with mine,” Sasuke said, helping him sit up. He inhaled deeply, placing one of Itachi’s hands on his chest. Exhaling slowly, pause, deep inhale.

His heart raced as he slowly matched his breathing with Sasuke’s, body aching from the panic attack.

“This was a bad idea,” Sasuke said, moving to stand. To leave.

Itachi gripped his hand tight.

“No,” he said. “We need to do this,”

 

Once he was finished, Itachi stood slowly, Sasuke holding onto him. The two made their way through the house, passing the dining room, which held memories of dinners together. Memories of Shisui staying for dinner, saying some stupid joke that once had a four year old Sasuke shoot milk from his nose, which had made Itachi fall over with laughter.

They passed the room.

Neither glanced at the door, carrying forward to their father’s office.

The door was locked with a basic seal, which Sasuke broke. The office remained the same as it once had, most of the paperwork things for the clan or for the police force.

Itachi walked to the large desk, unlocking the bottom drawer.

“What is it?” Sasuke asked, looking around. There were pictures framed on the wall, pictures from Itachi’s academy graduation, from Sasuke’s birth, special events.

A photo on the wall stuck out, and he walked over to pluck it off the wall.

It was taken shortly after his parents began to date. Kushina had insisted on taking the photo, capturing Mikoto’s early morning look. She was making a face as she was opening a fridge, as if annoyed at her friend for taking her photo so early when she was still in her pajamas. Fugaku stood off to the side, drinking a cup of coffee, but his eyes were solely focused on Mikoto, and for once, Sasuke could see the love in his eyes.

“Father was truly a bastard,” Sasuke mumbled, putting the photo back on the wall.

“He loved us,” Itachi said, skimming through the document he needed. “They both did,”

The sudden shatter of glass jolted Itachi from his thoughts, Sasuke throwing the photo across the room, the glass of the frame shattering across the floor.

“They why didn’t you spare them?” he screamed. “Why just me?”

Itachi felt his heart break as he watched his brother choke back a sob.

“Why are we here?” he cried. “You killed them! Right in the room we passed! I went to that room the day afterwards, and there was still blood everywhere!”

“Sasuke,”

“No, don’t you ‘Sasuke’ me, Itachi!” Sasuke cleared his voice to yell clearly. “You killed everyone, just for this stupid fucking village! Why the village? Why not the clan? Why not your _family_?”

“Sasuke,” Itachi whispered, standing up to go to his brother. Sasuke let out another sob, his shoulders trembling under Itachi’s touch.

“Why,” he cried, pressing his face into Itachi’s shoulder. “Why me?”

“I wish I had told you earlier,” Itachi mumbled. “If only you were older…I think you would have been able to sway Father,”

“No,” Sasuke shook his head. “He hated me. He hated me because I wasn’t _you_. You, the prodigy. The stupid genius. I tried so _hard_ , Itachi. I tried to be just like you, and everyone always compared me to you. I think the only one who didn’t compare me to you was Mom,”

Itachi let Sasuke cry a bit more, letting his sobs turn into shaky, deep inhales.

“You made me suffer _so_ much,” he said. “You ruined my life, for some stupid fucking village,”

“I wanted to protect you,” Itachi said. “I really, truly, did,”

“You did a bad fucking job,”

“Language,” Itachi said, and Sasuke let out a bitter laugh. “Let’s get going. This place bears too many memories,”

The silence was deafening, Itachi leaving with the documents he needed.

Sasuke hung back, kneeling down to the picture he broke.

He slipped it from the frame, tucking it safely within his shirt before following after Itachi.

 

The brothers stopped by Kakashi’s apartment, the jonin greeting them at the door.

“We didn’t think you would show,” Kakashi teased. “How awful of you, Itachi. Making your former captain wait like that,”

Itachi gave Kakashi a look that had him laughing, turning his head to peek at Tenzo in the kitchen.

“They’re finishing it up,” he said. “Get in here, brats,”

Naruto had his back to Sasuke as they entered the apartment, busy stirring a pot. Sakura was setting the table, giving Sasuke a small smile once they made eye contact. Sai sat at his spot, drawing in his sketchbook.

“What’re you drawing, Sai?” Sakura asked, peering over his shoulder. He tilted the sketchpad towards her, not missing the happy tears that threatened to spill over.

The drawing of Team Seven, Yamato and Sai included, made her glad to have everyone back.

“Oi, teme,” Naruto said, smiling at Sasuke. “Help me with this, will ya? Give it a taste and tell me if it needs anything, ya know?”

Sasuke felt himself smile, needing it after the draining day.

Naruto held out a spoon to him, watching as he tasted the broth for their ramen dinner.

“Needs more salt,” he said, Naruto’s face lighting up. “Not bad, loser,”

 

The dinner with the members of Team Seven and the former members of ANBU’s Team Ro went well, full of laughter and good conversation.

Kakashi found himself unable to stop smiling as he watched the kids collapse onto his couch, Sasuke falling asleep almost as soon as he sat down. He had his head in Naruto’s lap, letting him card his fingers through his hair. Sai sat perched on the arm, watching with an amused look. Sakura leaned onto Naruto, happy and stress-free.

Yamato and Itachi were in the kitchen, talking in hushed tones.

Having Sasuke back was a blessing in and of itself. Having Itachi back, having been at death’s door, was nice.

Kakashi thought, as he watched his team, that if he were ever to become Hokage, he would fight to protect this with everything he had and more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've come to the realization that I write happy things better than sad things.  
> Thank you so much for reading and following me as I write this!


	9. Ponds

It doesn’t take long for Suigetsu to go stir crazy. The room the Hokage provided them with at the inn was spacious for the four of them, but sitting inside all day with Jugo, waiting for Sasuke’s return or Karin to come back from grocery shopping, was enough to make him want to sink the Executioner’s Blade into something, and quick.

He hated closed spaces ever since Orochimaru forced him into a tank. Having the freedom to stretch his legs and go wherever he desired had been great, but that quickly ended when they snatched Itachi’s body and brought it back to this village.

Konoha, he noted, was a lot dryer than Kiri. He missed the Mist, the early morning fog that rolled over the bay. He remembered Mangetsu taking him there, letting him watch the Swordsmen train.

Itachi got sad whenever Suigetsu brought up Kisame, but part of him wanted to tell him the stories he had of him. One memory that Suigetsu always cherished was when Kisame once hoisted him up onto his shoulders, carrying him around because Suigetsu, three at the time, had threatened to cut his fingers off in his sleep if he didn’t.

Mangetsu had been confused, watching the hulking shark man carry around the littlest Hozuki for a whole day.

Another time, when he was about five, he could remember Kisame and Zabuza getting into a fist fight that Ameyuri Ringo had to break apart. Suigetsu remembered laughing so hard he nearly wet himself at the faces they had made when she had struck the ground with Kiba, Mangetsu scooping him up in his arms to keep him away from what they all dubbed, ‘the shock zone’.

While Suigetsu really wanted Samehada, he also didn’t really want to kill Kisame. His brother always spoke fondly of him, and from the memories he could remember of his childhood, Suigetsu always remembered him being nice to him. It could have been because Mangetsu was technically the boss, since he could wield all the swords, but he also never seemed like a terrible person.

“I need to get up,” Suigetsu said, hoisting himself to his feet. “Want me go grab you anything?”

“No,” Jugo answered from his spot by the window, sitting in the sun like a cat. “Where are you going?”

“Out,” Suigetsu shrugged. “I just want to go for a swim,”

The door to their room slid shut, granting him the freedom to be alone.

 

Suigetsu wandered until he found a large pond, slipping off his clothes and just simply diving in. The rush of the cold water around him felt soothing, still nowhere similar to the water from home.

Kiri just had a different feel to it, it seemed.

Maybe, if he asked nicely, he could convince the team to take a quick trip there.

He shook the thought from his head, focusing on swimming deeper down into the pond.

Some quiet time was all he needed now.

 

Suigetsu swam in the pond for hours, finally resurfacing around the time that the sun was settling over the trees.

He hadn’t realized he had a visitor.

“Hey,” Suigetsu waved, treading closer toward the dock.

“What are you doing here?” Itachi asked, arms folded across his chest.

“Wanted to go for a dip, why? Is this some super sacred pond or some bs?” he asked, hauling himself onto the dock.

Itachi’s face was unreadable, more so than Sasuke’s. Suigetsu could easily see more than just genetic resemblance between them.

“This is the pond where Sasuke and I learned the fireball technique,” he said. “You’re on Uchiha property,”

“I am?” Suigetsu shrugged, slipping his shirt on. “What, are you gonna arrest me for trespassing?”

“No,” Itachi sat down on the dock, slipping off his sandals. He let his feet dip into the water, slowly kicking them back and forth. “I just find it interesting that you went to a place that means so much to Sasuke without even knowing the layout of the village,”

Suigetsu shrugged, finishing getting dressed before sitting down beside Itachi. The two sat in silence, neither wanting to be the first to speak.

Suigetsu, however, was nosy.

“Why do you act weird when I bring up Kisame?” he asked, watching Itachi’s placid look be replaced with something melancholy. “He was your partner, right?”

“He was,”

“Then why act like he’s dead? He’s not, because I’d have Samehada if he was,”

Itachi shook his head, watching the moon slowly rise in the sky, full and round as it drifted across the clouds.

He hated full moons.

“It’s none of your business,”

“He was your partner for eight years, almost nine,” Suigetsu pressed on. “He really respected you, ya know that?”

Itachi hummed in response, looking away from the moon and stars, suddenly reminded of the night at the Naka River, a source of nightmares for him.

He remembered waking up after one particular nightmare of pushing Shisui off the cliff, strong arms safely pulling him into a hug, rubbing soothing circles in his back as he calmed down. It was during a mission to the Land of Iron, the cold weather seeping into their room, and Itachi convinced himself that he had been trembling from the cold, not from fear, despite his skin being hot to the touch. Kisame simply had kept quiet, being there in silent support.

Everything was so messy, now. Tsunade was trying desperately to find Danzo, to have him tried for his role in plotting the massacre. Sasuke hated him even more, it seemed. Sasuke’s team, however, Itachi had a harder time trying to pinpoint. They were fiercely loyal to Sasuke, and cared for him deeply. That care seemed to be more like love, he recalled, and it was one Sasuke reciprocated, which was even odder.

Within a day or so, Itachi would get the medical clearance from Tsunade to go after Danzo, and he would take Sasuke with him. Sasuke, hellbent on revenge for the clan, Itachi, desperate for the madness to end.

“I’m,” Itachi paused, taking in a deep breath, thankful for his healed lungs. “I’m forever grateful that Sasuke has friends like you all,”

“Aw, don’t be a sap,” Suigetsu said, standing. “C’mon. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. Sasuke’s cooking tonight,”

Itachi huffed with a short laugh, taking Suigetsu’s offered hand to help stand up.

If Sasuke had friends like these, he would be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter chapter, but I wanted to write Suigetsu interacting with Itachi.  
> Thank you for reading!


	10. Triumphus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Triumphus: achievement, success, procession for a victorious general or admiral. (Ancient Rome/Latin)
> 
>    
> Konoha learns the truth.  
> Itachi and Sasuke face off against Danzo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo. [If I cannot bend the heavens above, I will move Hell.]  
> I was doing some research for Latin and I came across this quote and it just reminded me of Sasuke a lot, so I wanted to include it alongside the title of the chapter.

Konoha did not take the truth as well as Tsunade had hoped.

Newspapers covered the mass spread of the truth, Tsunade’s official seal on the scroll posted right outside the tower, alongside a copy of the mission scroll.

Sasuke watched from the tower, Naruto by his side as they watched the crowd surrounding her announcement, as well as the reinstatement of Itachi’s status as a ninja of the Leaf.

“It’s not so bad, ya know,” Naruto said, his hand finding Sasuke’s. “It’s better to tell them the truth than hide it,”

“Konoha lied to cover the truth,” Sasuke shook his head. “I can never forgive this rotten village for that,”

“So, what’re you gonna do?”

“I don’t know,” Sasuke let Naruto wrap an arm around his waist, letting himself enjoy the warmth radiating from the Jinchuriki.

“Are you going to come back for good?” Naruto asked, quiet for once. “I miss you. Sakura misses you,”

Sasuke looked back down at the crowd, hearing someone making a nasty comment about the Uchiha clan.

He wasn’t so sure.

 

He couldn’t stay in Konoha.

Itachi knew Sasuke felt the same. They both had once called this village their home, but now, it only left bitter memories of their past lives, back when they had been younger. Konoha, as much as he loved the village, wanted to protect it, had brought the Uchiha clan down to simply two members.

He noticed Sasuke’s feelings for his friend, Naruto clinging to his side whenever Sasuke was free from Taka’s side. Sasuke looked at him like he was the sun in the sky, yet there was a hint of sadness there. Maybe his brother wasn’t as foolish as he believed. It seemed that Sasuke knew that he didn’t belong in this village anymore, and as much as Naruto wanted him to stay, once Sasuke set his mind and soul into it, it was firm and unmoving.

Maybe, Itachi thought, as he trailed behind the two, when things cleared over, when there were no more threats, he could move to a smaller village, or simply in recluse, away from politics, from loyalties to villages that sent their shinobi on death quests.

He hoped Sasuke would come with him, but when the time came, it would be his brother’s decision. Would he want to stay with his team, which was quickly becoming his new family? Would he force himself to stay in Konoha, the village he despised, just for Team Seven?

Itachi hoped his brother chose the path with the least amount of suffering, the path that would lead Sasuke to true happiness. He deserved it more than Itachi. Being granted a second chance, coming back from the brink of death, he could ask for no more.

Well…

Maybe, when Sasuke was off doing his own thing, he would look for Kisame.

He was beginning to miss the swordsman and his company.

 

There was a hideout not too far away from the border of Konoha, heading into Amegakure. Kakashi and Yamato had tracked him down there, keeping a safe enough distance not to draw attention. Konoha was best known for espionage.

The once sunny sky of Konoha had been replaced with grey drizzle, Karin leading the way.

Itachi originally wanted it to just be he and Sasuke, and he hadn’t expected Karin to offer her assistance to find Danzo. She reminded them that they were not sensory type ninja, and that she could easily find the cretin rather than the brothers wander aimlessly. Sasuke reminded Itachi that she would be beneficial in telling when Danzo was using his stolen Sharingan, since she could see the flare in his chakra.

Karin once explained it over dinner, excited that Itachi took interest in her sensory prowess. Suigetsu had complained, stating that he didn’t want to talk about her over dinner, and Jugo had snapped, his first freak out in a while. After Sasuke helped him calm down, Karin had continued her explanation as if nothing happened, which made Itachi curious to the kind of lives Sasuke’s partners had lived up until that point.

The dinner ended with three broken dishes, a broken chair, and a torn curtain. Suigetsu said it was an improvement.

“He’s about two miles ahead,” Karin spoke up, drawing her cloak over her head.

“Karin, you’ll stay back,” Sasuke said, moving ahead of her. “Itachi, can you use your Susano’o?”

“I haven’t tried since our last fight,” Itachi said, feeling a headache coming on as he activated his Sharingan. “But I can use it,”

“Alright,” Sasuke blinked once, twice, staring back with the Eternal Mangekyo.

Since the transplant, they both had unlocked their Eternal Mangekyo, the design similar. Since they had essentially swapped eyes, the Mangekyos combining, they had the similar floral appearance of Sasuke’s. Where Sasuke had the straight tomoe, Itachi’s were curves, similar to the pinwheel of his original Mangekyo.

When he had first seen his reflection, Itachi had been taken aback by the somewhat floral look to it. He was reminded of his paternal grandmother, Naori, who had been the originator of the Izanami, and her floral Mangekyo. His father had chided her for filling his head with what he had deemed “nonsense,” but Itachi remembered sitting in her lap at four, listening intently as she described how she stopped unnecessary killing to obtain their special prowess.

He had always been fond of her. Thinking back on it now, Izumi kind of reminded him of her. He missed her, as he missed Shisui.

“I’ll extinguish the flames of Amaterasu if needed,” Sasuke said, finding his brother’s side. “Let me know if you need me to shape the flames,”

Itachi turned back to Karin, noticing the concerned look on her face.

“Be careful,” she warned, before heading off to hide. She would follow once they found him.

 

Danzo was the same as Itachi remembered him, vile and stiff. Sasuke could vaguely remember the man, only truly remembering Fugaku’s praise of him for accepting his brother into the ANBU. His mother had warned him, cryptic in her words.

“Beware a man who hides behind a mask,” she had said. Ironic, since her son had become one.

Itachi had always been best with any weapon. Sasuke was a master with his katana.

Both perfect in shurikenjutsu.

They had found their way through the halls of the hideout, anger rising in one brother, hope of relief in the other. Murder was not their favorite option, but this was necessary.

The door to the abandoned laboratory room was wide open, one living soul in it.

“How nice to see both of you,” Danzo said, turning around from the desk, old scrolls of Orochimaru’s sprawled out. “What do I owe the pleasure?”

“This is no friendly visit,” Itachi said, hearing the unsheathe of Sasuke’s katana.

“What? You’re here for revenge?” Danzo asked, tapping his cane to the floor. “The Uchiha was destined to come to an end. You’re too much like your ancestor,”

“Do not mock the Uchiha,” Sasuke said, voice ice cold with venom.

The sound of Danzo dropping his cuffs, the bandages around the arm created from Hashirama’s cells filling the stiff air.

“I’ll be taking both of your Sharingan,” he said, revealing the stolen eyes of their clansmen embedded into the white flesh. “Then, there will be no more Uchihas, and I will have fulfilled Tobirama Senju’s will to eradicate our village of the curse of hatred your filthy bloodline was destined to follow,”

“Is it true?” Sasuke asked. “Is it true you and the other village elders ordered my brother to slaughter our clan?”

Danzo charged at Sasuke first, not anticipating Itachi moving to block the blow with his kunai. Sasuke flicked his katana in his hand, driving the sword through Danzo’s chest.

Within a flash, it seemed, Danzo was behind Itachi, swiping at him. Sasuke tapped the seal tattooed to his forearm, shuriken in hand.

Danzo slipped away just as fast.

 

Karin watched, safely hidden behind a pillar as the brothers exchanged blows with Danzo. Itachi had summoned a clone, keeping Danzo occupied while Sasuke, in the dim light of the room, tried to manage the arm of his Susano’o he had summoned. It seemed any hit to Danzo was missed, the man coming out untouched.

She noticed the flare in chakra on his arm, able to see the Sharingan embedded. There were ten in total, eyes slowly shutting after any blow that would be considered fatal.

Sasuke took a kunai to the shoulder, shouting from the pain.

“Sasuke!” Itachi’s worry seeped into his voice, the clone at Danzo’s side exploding as he released it. Sasuke’s Susano’o arm swiped at the pillars blindly, the building beginning to collapse around them.

 

The Yata Mirror kept them protected, thanks to Itachi’s quick thinking. Karin had managed to rush over to Sasuke’s side in the nick of time, the ceiling collapsing to reveal the dreary sky.

“Sasuke, Itachi,” she blabbered, fear rising in the need to relay the information quickly. “His eyes close as he uses that weird jutsu, and I think once they’re all closed, then he’ll be vulnerable to your attacks!”

“Thank you, Karin,” Itachi said, turning his gaze back to Danzo. He watched the monster of a man push himself free from the rubble. Sasuke sat back up, using Amaterasu to set Danzo aflame.

He vanished once more, appearing on the high ground.

“He has three more open, then his actual eye,” Karin said, helping Sasuke to his feet. She offered her hand, wincing as he bit into the flesh of her wrist. Itachi was looking weary, a slight tremble in his spine as he stood, chest heaving.

Sasuke had once told her that using the Susano’o felt as if every cell of his body was on fire. She wondered if it was the same for Itachi, too.

He declined her healing jutsu, eyes set on Danzo.

“How pathetic,” Danzo said. “My job is to protect the village from traitors, from threats. Threats such as the second coming of Madara Uchiha, which I can see in your little brother, Itachi. The same little brother you begged us to save, to protect. You were an ANBU. You swore to protect the village on your life, a vow of silence and secrecy,”

“I do not condone child sacrifice, such as the experiments you created with Orochimaru, using the Sannin as your scapegoat when Tenzo Yamato is living proof of your disgusting experiments,” Itachi said, taking Sasuke’s dropped katana in hand. “I slaughtered my clansmen, my family, for our village to prevent a coup that would undoubtedly result in needless bloodshed. I am Itachi Uchiha of the Leaf, and I vowed to protect the village from any threat, but I have a duty as a brother, and I swore to protect my brother,”

Itachi charged at Danzo, metal clashing against metal. Sasuke stood, watching his brother expertly maneuver around Danzo, the familiar dance of battle. He landed a blow, stabbing two of the eyes on his hands, the lids shutting tightly, forbidding him from using Izanagi another two times.

Had it not cost him an eye, Itachi would have placed him under Izanami, but without any spares, he would refuse to use it.

An arrow from Sasuke’s Susano’o, Amaterasu flames wrapped around the tip, pierced through Danzo, narrowly avoiding hitting Itachi. The flames wrapped around Danzo once more, his body slipping free.

The last eye shut, leaving only Shisui’s eye.

“You took the eye of my best friend,” Itachi bit out, blocking an attack from Danzo. “I’ll be taking it back once you’re dead,”

“You’re overestimating your power, Itachi,” Danzo said, darting from Itachi to Sasuke. He unraveled the bandage covering the stolen eye of Itachi’s best friend, red eye flashing as he charged a wind style kunai aimed at Sasuke’s heart.

 

_“Shisui, Shisui!” Sasuke followed the elder Uchiha, punching his fists in the air. “Show me your Sharingan!”_

_Shisui laughed, walking by Itachi’s side as they made their way back from the Naka River. It had been a hot day, a rare day Itachi and Shisui had off together, opting to splash about in the cool water of the river with Sasuke. Itachi’s hair was still wet, long inky locks spread across his shoulders and back, falling over the Uchiha fan on his back. Shisui shook his head fast, shaking water droplets everywhere._

_“No can do, kiddo,” he said, dodging the playful slap to the arm from Itachi. “Only super strong ninja can see my Mangekyo, and you aren’t it,”_

_“I am, too!” Sasuke raced up, grabbing Shisui and Itachi’s hands from his spot in between them. They began to swing him as they walked, his laughter filling the air. “I’m gonna be a strong ninja just like Itachi!”_

_“You’re just a squirt,” Shisui said, smiling as he tilted his face up towards the evening sun. “You’ll have to train for thirty years to be as good as your brother, and you’ll need to train another twenty to get as good as me!”_

_“But that’s like, a hundred years!” Sasuke whined. “And Itachi’s stronger than you, Shisui!”_

_“But I’m older!” Shisui argued. “And, I have the Sharingan,”_

_“Itachi has the Sharingan, too!”_

_Said older brother was trying to contain his laughter, failing miserably._

_“I think we’re evenly matched,” Itachi said, and Shisui pouted._

_“No, Shisui’s a dummy. Dummy Shisui!”_

_“Sasuke, that’s not nice,” Itachi chided._

_“At least I’m tall!” Shisui fought back, and Itachi rolled his eyes. Sasuke was the five year old, but Shisui acted more like he was seventeen going on four._

_“Boys, just in time!” Mikoto called from the front door. “I just finished dinner!”_

_They raced to the house, laughter filling the summer air._

 

Danzo’s stunned face stared back at Sasuke, his Chidori laced katana piercing the Root leader’s chest. Danzo, frozen in place, horror on his face. 

Two blades stuck out of Danzo’s chest, the familiar reddish orange glow of Itachi’s Susano’o filling the space.

The Totsuka Blade.

Danzo had been frozen to the spot, blood seeping from Itachi's left eye as he pointed a finger at him from within the safety of his Susano'o, successfully trapping Danzo in his Tsukuyomi.

Danzo choked out blood, collapsing to his knees before being sealed away. Karin watched, eyes wide as Danzo’s body was sealed in the gourd.

Silence filled the air, the gourd sealing shut. Both brothers stood, trying to catch their breath. Itachi released his Susano’o, letting his eyes fade back to black. Sasuke still had his Sharingan activated, capturing the look on his brother’s face. Relief spread across his features, Itachi collapsing to his hands and knees, wheezing. Karin rushed to his side, thankful that he wasn’t coughing up blood.

He was hesitant, shaking his head at the proffered arm.

“I know about your past,” he managed, and Karin felt herself want to cry. She had only confided in Sasuke about the abuse she had encountered due to the nature of her healing jutsu, the men who had used her for years when she was a young girl, permanent marks on her body.

The first time she had stripped down to cool off in a river with the boys during their search for Itachi, she had kept her shorts on, the sight of the bitemarks on her inner thighs disgusting her.

She felt a bit betrayed that Sasuke had shared her secret she had entrusted to him, but it made her feel comforted that Itachi was mindful of what had happened.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, taking a deep breath. She helped him to his feet, the sky clearing of its drizzle. Sasuke made his way over to him, letting out a sigh of relief.

He slid his arm under Itachi, helping him walk, the brothers fulfilling their mission.

 

Itachi passed out from chakra fatigue almost as soon as they entered the village, Team Seven, Tsunade, Jugo and Suigetsu at the gate to greet them. He was rushed to the hospital, simply in need of rest and some light healing.

Sasuke had his arm over Karin, thankful that she had been there to help him after his fatigue caught up to him.

“It’s not over,” he said, eyes narrowing at Tsunade.

“I know,” she said, pursing her lips. “We need to figure out who will replace the elders,”

“Well, I think Shikamaru’s dad is pretty smart,” Naruto chimed in. “He’s older, right? We can young, cool elders,”

“It’s called ‘elders’ for a reason, Naruto,” Sai chimed in. “Is your brain really as small as your dick?”

“Sai,” Sakura hissed.

“No, he has a point,” Kakashi mused. “Shikaku, Inoichi and Choza aren’t old, but they are wise. Elders are supposed to be wise, and if anything, they work together and would make excellent councilmen,”

Tsunade sighed, in desperate need of a drink.

 

Tsunade thought it was self-explanatory to Sasuke that no, Koharu and Homura’s heads were not to be displayed by the village gates. They weren’t the Bloody Mist.

Sasuke did, however, let their bodies burn to nothing with Amaterasu flames, his tired brother leaning onto his shoulder as they watched.

“Are you satisfied?” Itachi asked, wanting an honest answer from his little brother. Sasuke took a shaky breath in, feeling a weight lifted from his shoulders.

Those responsible for signing the death sentence for his family were now dead. The council who had a hatred for their clan that had been carried over from their teacher. If Tobirama Senju were still alive, Sasuke wouldn’t hesitate to murder him, as well.

The man who hated the Uchiha solely because he couldn’t accept the fact that the clan head had fallen in love with his elder brother. The same man who had murdered Izuna, sending Madara onto a path that led to him replacing love with hatred, turning on the man who loved him most.

Itachi and Sasuke stood still, the ashes of the councilors carried off by the breeze of the night.

It was a new moon. A new beginning.

“Are you?” he asked.

“I asked first,”

Jugo offered they have a celebratory dinner of sorts, Karin sluggish from the trip and not wanting to leave the inn. From the open door, Sasuke could hear Suigetsu complaining about how Jugo was chopping vegetables, and Naruto was offering to use the Executioner’s Blade to chop them quickly.

“The Seven Swords of the Mist are not kitchenware!” Suigetsu shrieked, followed by a watery slap.

“Shut up, Suigetsu! I’m tired!”

“Karin, stop yelling,”

“I’ll hit you next, Jugo!”

Sasuke found himself smiling as he listening to his teammates’ laughter fill the air, Karin’s snorting, Suigetsu’s weird laugh that Jugo insisted sounded like a duck, and Jugo’s deep chuckle.

“Yeah,” Sasuke looked at Itachi. “I am,”

He almost didn’t whine at the forehead poke, the smile on his brother’s face wide enough to rival Naruto’s.

Itachi never smiled with his teeth, but here Sasuke could see the smile that absolutely belonged to their father.

“Stop, you look weird,” Sasuke waved his hand away from his forehead, letting out a small chuckle. “Stop it, Itachi. You’re creeping me out,”

“I’m sorry, Sasuke,”

“You always say that,” Sasuke covered the spot where Itachi poked him with a hand. “Come on. Kakashi got us celebratory sake,”

“How odd, that we’re celebrating the deaths of those who were corrupt,” Itachi mused. “Underage little brothers don’t get to have any,”

“I think I deserve a cup,”

 

Sasuke ended up drinking most of the sake, holding his alcohol better than Itachi, who had fallen asleep face down at the table after two cups.

It was Sakura who captured the picture, Itachi snoring away at the table and Sasuke laughing, cheeks reddened and leaning onto Suigetsu. Jugo was shaking his head with a fond smile on his face, Karin resting her head on his shoulder as she napped after inhaling a good portion of the food they cooked.

It was the first picture Itachi framed, sitting on the bedside table of his cottage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The evil that is the Konoha council of old annoying people has been defeated! Also, since in the second chapter the brothers had the eye switch to prevent both of them from going blind, Itachi would have to have the EMS, so I tried to figure out what it possibly would look like, and the Narutopedia page said that the EMS is usually a combo of the two Mangekyo, the first of the transplantee and the second the transplanter.  
> There will be a bit of a time skip in the next chapter, as hinted by the butt end of the chapter.
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading this! It means a lot to me :)


	11. Intermission.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Taka splits off for a brief moment, quick little updates before something bigger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Karin and Naruto leave first.  
> Sasuke and Jugo are next.  
> Suigetsu guesses he can wander for a bit.  
> Itachi wants to just have some time to himself.

Two months go by with little buzz.

 

“I want to go to Uzushio,” Naruto announced, slamming his hands down on the table a few days after Itachi and Sasuke returned home from killing Danzo.

“I don’t think so,” Karin frowned, resting her cheek on her palm. “I’ve never been. I was born in Kusa,”

“We can still go,” Naruto argued. “We’re Uzumakis. It’s our heritage. I want to know more about them. My mom was an Uzumaki,”

“So was mine,” Karin sighed. “I don’t see your point,”

“We can go,” Naruto pleaded. “Please. I don’t have any family alive. I think you’re the same as me,”

Karin huffed, standing abruptly.

“Fine!” she shouted. “Just so you can quit bugging me. Pack up a bag, and we’ll go,”

The brightness of Naruto’s smile could rival the sun.

 

“I need to clear my head,” Sasuke admitted, sitting out on the porch of the inn one night. Leaning onto Jugo, the two watched Geruda take off, a note in hand for Naruto and Karin. It had been two weeks since they set out to the ruins of Uzushio, Karin’s latest letter detailing a set of sealing scrolls she found. Naruto seemed to have come across a genealogy book, and he had found his mother and Karin’s mother to be cousins, sharing the same direct bloodline.

“I need to leave,” Sasuke rephrased. Itachi was sleeping in the room behind them, Suigetsu sprawled across the futon beside him. “I can’t…It’s too much,”

“I understand,” Jugo said. “I’ll go wherever you go,”

“I think I want to investigate Orochimaru’s hideouts,” he said. “Find anything that we may have missed. Anything important,”

“We still have Kabuto to worry about,”

Sasuke hummed in agreement, feeling the nip of cold in the air. Summer was coming to a close.

 

“Well,” Suigetsu shrugged, walking to the gate with his pack strapped to his back. “I’ll miss you guys,”

“You won’t be gone for long,” Sasuke reminded him, waiting with Jugo. “We’re to meet back up here in two months, unless I send otherwise,”

“Alright, fearless leader,” Suigetsu teased, rolling his eyes. Sasuke shot him a glare, the swordsman laughing. “I still am gonna miss you. Even you, big guy,”

“I’ll miss you, too,” Jugo admitted. “It’s going to be quiet with just me and Sasuke,”

“Oh, ha-ha,”

Sasuke huffed, holding out an arm. Suigetsu raised an eyebrow, unsure what to make of the gesture.

“C’mon,” he urged. “I don’t really wanna do this, so hurry up and make it quick,”

“Aw, you do care!” Suigetsu teased, throwing his arms around Sasuke and pulling him into a tight hug. “You’re not the ice prince I made you out to be, huh?”

“Shut up,” Sasuke tried pushing him away, unable to let himself free of Suigetsu’s grasp.

Itachi.

“I take it you’re leaving without saying goodbye, little brother,” he said, sadness in his eyes.

Sasuke was at a loss of words, unable to truly convey what he wanted to tell Itachi. He needed time, time away from his brother, from this village.

His whole life changed, and he needed a break.

“I understand,” Itachi said, watching Sasuke detach himself from Suigetsu. “Please, be safe,”

“I will,”

Suigetsu went to hug Jugo, and once he knew the Swordsman wasn’t looking, Sasuke stepped forward, embracing his brother.

“Be careful,” Itachi mumbled, using his strength to hug him tightly.

“Ow, you’re squeezing too hard,” Sasuke frowned, feeling Itachi let up as he pulled away to leave.

Not before a poke to the forehead, though.

 

“I can’t stay in the village,” Itachi told Tsunade, sitting in her office. She looked tired, filling out paperwork with Shizune.

To think that he wanted the position of Hokage, a childhood dream.

He couldn’t, not without Shisui, the only person he would trust as an advisor. Sasuke, as much as he loved his dear little brother, led with his heart, not his brain.

“Are you leaving?” Tsunade asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I want to move,” Itachi pondered. “Possibly close to the border with the Land of Water,”

“I’ll need you back here in two months,” she said, signing a document. “There’s to be a Kage Summit, and I would like you present as a part of my guard,”

“I’d be honored, Lady Hokage,”

 

A month in Uzushio felt like an eternity, countless hours spent pouring over archives, retrieving scrolls that could be of use. Karin tested out several new sealing jutsus, seals woven into the fabric of her clothing.

Naruto loved being the test subject for her sealing experiments, excited to help. He had been practicing channeling his chakra with the guidance of the toads from time to time, disappearing for a day or so to Mount Miyaboku.

He apparently was close to having perfect sage mode, something last obtained by the God of Shinobi himself.

She was proud, stitching a seal that would have a complete med kit into his shirt.

A smile came to her face, alone on the island Uzushio once stood on, about the benefit that these seals could have for a certain medic back in Konoha.

 

Sasuke and Jugo had searched every hideout imaginable, no new leads on Kabuto’s whereabouts.

Sasuke did find a summoning scroll, making a new bond with Aoda, a kinder snake than Manda. Jugo had enjoyed travelling alongside Sasuke, the companionable silence calming, the wilderness surrounding them, fulling them with the sweet sounds of nature.

“We’re getting close,” Sasuke noted, letting out a yawn. “I’m exhausted,”

“I could take first watch, and you can sleep,” Jugo offered, but Sasuke shook his head as a shoreside cottage came into view.

Itachi was outside, his crow perched on his arm as he fed it fish from the ocean, the bird happily squawking.

He looked healthier, face still pale, but with more color, more life in him. He had gained some weight back, confiding in Karin and Sakura during one examination that he had dropped a significant amount of muscle mass and weight due to his illness.

Itachi looked at ease.

Sasuke found himself smirking, knowing his brother had some semblance of peace in his life.

They had a small dinner, the night quiet as Itachi set around the home, redoing the seals to allow for peaceful rest. He had brewed lavender tea for them, and before Sasuke could truly protest, his brother was draping a blanket over him, Sasuke pressing his face against Jugo’s shoulder, relaxing into the warmth from the fireplace.

Itachi got to rest peacefully, knowing his brother felt safe.

 

Chojuro was improving in just two short months, Kisame noticed.

Ao still would chide him for not pushing him hard enough during training, which usually resulted in Mei threatening his life. Chojuro was still nervous, but getting better at wielding his blade.

He was still no match for Kisame, but in due time, when Kisame probably retired from the shinobi lifestyle, he would be.

Then, it would be his duty to train the upcoming generation of the Seven Swordsmen, as tradition would have it.

He would have an easier time at his job if Suigetsu quit trying to shove Chojuro aside every hour or so, demanding a fight for his sword.

 

Konan was almost done with the lake, quick letters sent to Kiri without the knowledge of Nagato nor ‘Madara’.

He was beginning to grow suspicious of her, she knew. The only reason that she was still alive, she suspected, was that he needed the Rinnegan, and could not kill her until after Nagato and his Six Paths were taken down.

She would prevent that from ever happening.

No one would harm Nagato, or Yahiko’s body.

Konan would make sure of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick little break for the group before the Kages meet. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!!!! :)


	12. First Summit Session

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Kage meet, and it goes exactly how Tsunade believes it will go.  
> A shit show.

The Kage were to meet in the Land of Iron to discuss the upcoming threat that was this so-called “Madara,” the growing fear of the Akatsuki, now dwindled down to only four members, but still dangerous enough that the Five Great Nations were concerned.

Tsunade had accidentally spent the night before drinking and gambling most of her money away, exhausted, hungover and miserable as she trekked through the snow. Shikaku, as chief advisor, accompanied her, alongside Shizune, Sakura, Kakashi, Yamato, and ANBU’s Crow, no longer the Cat mask once held in thirteen year old hands, lacking ANBU armor that would stir up sour memories, opting instead for the newly appointed jonin uniform.

Tsunade did not let the other Kage know that her ANBU guard was Itachi. She figured it would be best to announce that in person.

Ohnoki, Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi hailed in from Iwa, the old man complaining about almost every aspect of the trip much to the chagrin of his granddaughter, who was begging any god that listened for the old man to croak and hand her the hat.

The Raikage was accompanied by Cee, Darui, Omoi and Karui, as well as his dear brother, Killer Bee. The trip had been easy, except for Darui and Bee’s rap battles that Ay could never escape.

Gaara shivered in the Land of Iron, but he refused to let his siblings know he was cold. Temari would scold him until she grew blue in the face for not wearing warmer clothes, despite wearing less than he was. Kankuro complained the minute they saw snow, originally playing in it until the cold truly settled in, teeth chattered and shivering nonstop.

“You’re late, Kazekage,” the samurai at the door said upon their arrival.

“Apologies,” Gaara said. “It was a long way to travel,”

“We’re still waiting on the Mizukage,” he said, ushering the Suna diplomats inside. “We have tea and soup,”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Kankuro all but rushed in, nearly colliding into Sakura’s back.

“Kankuro?” she asked. “Wow, so nice to see you!”

“Hey, Sakura,” Kankuro said quickly, beelining to the warm tea. Temari laughed, patting the medic on her shoulder.

“Sorry about Kankuro,” she said, a hint of teasing in her voice. “He’s just a baby when it comes to the cold. Thank you, again, for saving him. We’re truly indebted to you,”

“It was no problem,” Sakura said, smiling and giving a wave to Gaara. He returned with his own small smile.

Konoha’s ANBU came up to her, whispering something into her ear before disappearing back into the crowd.

“I believe it’s going to be starting soon,” Sakura grabbed her teacup, holding it in her hands to keep her fingertips warm. “We’re all sitting on the balcony, while the Kage meet with their advisors,”

Temari nodded, following Sakura into the hall.

Time for the Kage Summit to begin.

 

“Well,” Mifune said, scanning the four Kage. “It appears that we’re missing the Mizukage,”

“Well, we should start without her,” Ohnoki croaked out. “If she has the nerve to not show up early. Young people and their inability to tell time, nowadays,”

“This is a Kage summit,” Tsunade said, slamming her hand down. “My grandfather didn’t start this tradition simply for us to start one Kage short,”

The Kage were allowed two members with them during the summit itself, any other entourage sitting in the balcony. Gaara chose to sit alone, confident in his skill if he needed to defend himself. Ohnoki had Akatsuchi, his shield. Ay had Darui, since Bee would probably spit some sort of rhyme during an inappropriate time and the Raikage needed his right-hand man. Tsunade had one single ANBU guard, the porcelain crow mask hiding any distinguishable features, other than the long black ponytail laying over one shoulder.

“-I told you, Lady Mizukage,” Ao said, the sound of footsteps approaching. “Chojuro, please go sit in the balcony,”

“Yes, Lord Ao,”

The Mizukage walked into the meeting chamber, flashing her kind smile.

“All apologies, my fellow Kage,” she apologized, bowing. “I hope you weren’t waiting long,”

“About damn time, Mizukage,” Ohnoki grumbled, Mifune shooting him a look.

Mei took her seat, her advisor and guard flanking her sides.

The two former members of the Akatsuki in the room nearly broke any form of formal composure, the sudden urge to meet overwhelming.

One filled with soothing relief, one filled with a mixture of bittersweet emotions.

“Well, now that the Kage are all here,” Mifune began, scanning the room. “I believe there are several things that need to be discussed, especially-”

“Lady Mizukage!” Ay shouted, slamming a fist down onto the table, splintering the wood. Skilled hands gripped at a legendary sword. “I demand you explain to the summit why you have an Akatsuki member as a part of your entourage!”

Mei faked a smile, her anger flaring. Ao felt himself wince, knowing that she may end up harming someone by the end of this summit.

“Kisame, please,” she said, tone hushed. “Release the handle of your blade,”

“Alright,”

Itachi gazed in shock at his former partner, now dressed in similar robes to Ao. He looked out of place, wearing his scratched out headband in his formal attire, Samehada strapped to his back, chittering quietly as he stood next to the Mizukage. Itachi was confused, wondering how his partner might have known the current leader of the Mist. Relief flooded over him as well, knowing that he was safe, standing not even ten feet from him.

Was this a mission from the Akatsuki, to infiltrate the Mist and possibly assassinate the Mizukage?

Itachi hoped it wasn’t, bile climbing up his throat from anxiety. Tsunade reached out to tap his hand, a bit of chakra focused in her fingertip to somewhat shock him back to reality. The look she gave him was knowing, a sly smirk on her face.

“I believe the Mizukage isn’t the only one with a former Akatsuki member amongst her entourage, Raikage,” Ao said, the Byakugan activated. “Care to explain, Lady Hokage?”

“I wish to explain after we discuss the current threat, and I believe we should not pressure Mei to answer the Raikage’s sudden outburst,” Tsunade said, looking at Gaara. “As we all know, the Kazekage was kidnapped and killed by the Akatsuki several months back, and it was only due to the life transfer jutsu of Lady Chiyo that he is still with us,”

Kisame and Itachi both slightly winced, feeling responsible. Gaara flashed his emerald gaze between the two, recognition in his eyes.

“There is a man, as I have been told, who is under the guise of Madara Uchiha,” Tsunade continued. “I believe his goal is the assassinate the Kages, then seize power. He’s working alongside the Amekage, known as Pein,”

“And you know this information how, Lady Hokage?” Ohnoki questioned. “If the Mizukage’s sensor says that you have a former Akatsuki member with you, then you probably should explain,”

“We have a source from Amegakure who is providing updates on Madara’s movements,” Mei spoke up, redirecting the talk. “It appears that he may try to make a move on one of us soon, but from my understanding, he has no idea of this summit taking place,”

“As it was intended to,” Mifune broke in. “Might I remind you all, I am simply here to mediate. Please, do not speak over one another, and interrupt,”

“Is this from your source as well?” Gaara asked, glancing at Kisame. Mei gave him a smile, her hand going to her hat.

“Of course, it is, Lord Kazekage,”

“Well, tell us why then!” Ay shouted, the volume causing most of the members in the balcony to flinch. “Why do you have a former Akatsuki member with you, Lady Mizukage?”

Mei looked at Ao, the reassuring head nod helping calm any doubt.

She knew the Raikage and Tsuchikage would be the least accepting, anyway. Might as well get things over and done with, especially if the Hokage had her own Akatsuki member.

“I’m not very aware of how knowledgeable you all are of our Bingo Books,” Mei said, giving the Raikage and Tsuchikage forced smiles. “But I believe I am listed in both Kumo and Iwa’s, under the name ‘Siren,’ am I correct?”

Akatsuchi and Darui skimmed through, nodding in acknowledgement.

“I had partners in my genin and chunin days,” she continued. “Before we split apart, two of my teammates were swordsmen in training, eventually becoming Swordsmen in every right. Kisame Hoshigaki was one of my partners, and I trust him with my life. He trusts me with his. He defected from the Akatsuki to come back to the Mist to assist me. I could easily kill him and everyone in this room in the matter of seconds if I wished, so do not question the credibility of my knowledge, nor the credibility of my personal guard. The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist historically have been the protectors of my village, and the Mizukage’s top guard. Kisame is the last formally trained Swordsman, wielder of the most dangerous blade, and my trusted source for the Akatsuki’s plans. Are there any further questions, Tsuchikage, Raikage?”

“The Akatsuki is a threat to the shinobi world!” Ohnoki argued.

“The Akatsuki has four members,” Kisame spoke out of turn, earning a glare from Ao. “One is basically a plant, one is Madara, and the other two are allied together rather than to Madara, and would be easier swayed,”

“You’re a member!” Ay shouted again. “How do we know this isn’t some ploy by the Mist to assassinate us all here and now? The Mist is where the Akatsuki began!”

“Who do you think gave me the information about Lord Fourth being a puppet ruler under a genjutsu?” Mei asked, raising an eyebrow. Tsunade gave her a smirk, glancing around the room. Gaara seemed content to let the two older men argue, watching with a blank expression. Mei seemed to be having a field day having her authority questioned, and from the twitch in her eye, Tsunade would give her about five more minutes of grilling before she began spitting lava across the table.

 

“I can’t believe it,” Kakashi mumbled to Sakura and Yamato. “If Gai were here, he would be itching for a rematch,”

“What is he doing here?” Sakura whispered, remembering Naruto animatedly telling her of his first meeting with the Swordsman. He had a similar aura to him that Zabuza did, and it brought up difficult memories.

“Well, look at who’s standing next to our Hokage,” Yamato said. “We can’t really judge,”

“Kisame’s been training me,” Chojuro said, leaning over towards Sakura. “He’s finishing my training, so that I’m a real Swordsman of the Mist,”

“Why?” Kankuro whispered loudly. “Why’s the shark dude here if he’s an Akatsuki member?”

 

“Since we’ve clarified Kisame’s position at this summit,” Ao began, turning to Tsunade. “Lady Hokage, may I ask your ANBU to remove their mask?”

“You may,” Tsunade felt herself smirking, unable to contain her excitement. She knew the summit would be a mess, but this was so much more entertaining than gambling her money away.

Crow silently slid off the porcelain mask, Sharingan active as Itachi stared out at the Kage, eyes meeting his partner’s.

Something ached in his chest, seeing the pained look on Kisame’s face. Mei looked pleasantly surprised. Gaara looked indifferent. Ohnoki was stunned, mouth wide open.

“Are you serious, Lady Hokage?” Ay asked. “The clan slayer?”

“Itachi Uchiha has been formally cleared of all of his charges,” Tsunade said. “He was ordered by my predecessor and sensei, Lord Third, Hiruzen Sarutobi, as well as the council of elders to assassinate his family in order to prevent a coup d’état. He was my fellow Sannin Jiraiya’s informant until he disappeared,”

“I thought you died,” Kisame’s voice sounded pained.

“We were all told you died,” Ohnoki said. “Why are you here?”

“Lady Hokage healed my wounds, and after explaining the truth of the massacre, reinstated my rank as a shinobi of the Leaf,” Itachi answered, quickly avoiding eye contact.

The pain in Kisame’s eyes was too much to bear, the Swordsman setting his face for the sake of his Mizukage.

“We recently have replaced our elder council, after Sasuke and Itachi disposed of them,” Tsunade said. “Shikaku Nara, of the Hidden Leaf, my advisor, is now a member of the council, along with his fellow teammates Choza Akimichi and Inoichi Yamanaka. Itachi has been beneficial in relaying the plot of the Akatsuki to me,”

“Have it be known that these two used to be partners,” Gaara spoke up. “How do you know they’re not working together?”

“Because I thought I died,” Itachi said plainly. “Kisame had no knowledge of my brother bringing my body back to the Leaf. He may have been my partner in the Akatsuki, but he and I have not had any contact in the past three months since my supposed death,”

“Very well, then,” Gaara hummed in agreement. “What do you plan to do with this threat of this man who claims to be your ancestor?”

“He’s not my ancestor,” Itachi spoke clearly, Tsunade watching proudly. “He’s a relative of mine, yes. A fellow survivor of the Uchiha clan. He’s the one who eliminated the police force the night I murdered my clansmen. He is Obito Uchiha, formerly of the Hidden Leaf. He is not the co-founder of the village,”

 

Kakashi stared down at the summit, eyes wide. He felt a small hand place itself on his shoulder, disbelief coursing through his mind.

He saw Obito laying under that rock that crushed him. He saw Obito die.

How is he alive?

 

“The real Madara Uchiha died shortly after saving Obito,” Itachi continued. “Obito, under direction of Madara, was instructed to impersonate him, infiltrate the Leaf, and was the cause of the Nine Tails attack sixteen years ago,”

“Obito is after the Amekage’s Rinnegan,” Kisame interjected. “Konan has been doing her best at diverting his attention, but he’s growing restless,”

Itachi frowned. Out of all the members of the Akatsuki, besides Kisame, he missed Konan the most. She was always kind to him, handing him an extra cup of tea under the guise of accidentally boiling too much water, but brewing his favorite brand. She would come back to the Tower with sweets, hiding them from Deidara and Hidan, but always offering him one. She was the one who noticed his illness first, and she was the person who sat up holding his hair back as he coughed up blood for the first time, her soothing voice calming him down from the panic that had brought.

Konan was perfectly capable of handling herself, but she was also handling Nagato. If Obito threatened Nagato’s life, she would not hesitate to react.

“We will reconvene,” Mifune decided. “We will bring the Amekage and his advisor here, and then, we shall continue discussion. It should take them two days to get here, so please, feel free to explore your rooms and get situated,”

 

“Ugh, it’s freezing!” Suigetsu complained, walking up towards the summit hall. “I’m going to freeze! Hozukis are not built for this weather,”

“No, you’re built for being stupid,” Karin said, rolling her eyes as she produced another cloak from the seal she stitched into hers. “Here, numbnuts,”

“Aw, thanks, Karin. Looks like you’re finally useful!”

“Please, can we not argue?” Jugo asked, following Naruto and Sasuke as they led the way. The summit must have been letting out, Kakashi and Sakura waiting down by the stairwell that led to the balcony.

“Well, you missed some shit going down,” Kakashi put bluntly, sighing. “Sasuke, come with me for a minute,”

Sasuke frowned, looking at Sakura. She nodded, tilting her head in the direction Kakashi began to move off to. She could hear them speak in hushed tones, probably about the news of Obito.

“What happened?” Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow. “Why are they all out so early?”

“We’re reconvening,” Yamato said. “They’re bringing the Amekage in. He’ll be here in two days,”

“Hey,” Naruto peered over Yamato’s shoulder, into the summit hall. The Kage were still seated, their guard around them. “Yo, Fish Face! What are you doing here?”

Naruto, against better judgement, pushed past Yamato and the Tsuchikage’s entourage, heading straight to the Mizukage.

“Hello,” she said, smiling. “You must be Naruto, the Nine-Tails-”

“You!” Naruto pointed an accusing finger at Kisame. “You said you were going to chop my legs off!”

“I did?” Kisame asked, scanning Naruto’s face. “Ah, you’re the brat we tried to kidnap. I didn’t recognize you. You’ve grown,”

“You know him, Kisame?” Suigetsu asked, pushing past Cee to get over to Naruto.

“He was our target, once,” Kisame said, looking over the sea of faces to Itachi, who remained close to Tsunade’s side, the mask now back on. “Sorry, kid,”

“You said you were gonna cut my arms and legs off, so I couldn’t run away!” Naruto complained, ignoring the hand on his shoulder from Suigetsu. “I could take you down, you’re a guppy!”

Kisame let out a barking laugh, Mei unable to hold back her own smile.

“I doubt that,” he said, patting Naruto on the shoulder.

Sasuke suddenly stormed into the summit hall, heading straight for his brother. The two spoke in hushed tones, Sasuke glancing over towards the Mizukage’s party.

“Suigetsu,” he called, nodding his head for his teammate to come over.

“That’s my call,” Suigetsu waved at Mei, leisurely making his way over to Sasuke.

“Are you worried about him, my lady?” Ao asked. “He is a Hozuki. He does technically have a claim to the seat,”

“I’ll see Chojuro in that seat before him,” Mei said. “Not to be rude to Mangetsu’s little brother, but it’s clear that Mangetsu had the brains and brawn,”

Naruto, having nothing left to say, went back over to Team Seven.

Mei reached out a hand to Kisame, giving him a reassuring squeeze and a wink.

“He won’t be on duty all night long, dear,” she teased. “You’re relieved for the rest of the day. Let Chojuro take your place,”

“More like you’ll be his bodyguard rather than the other way around,”

Ao looked on, frustrated that Kisame could backtalk Mei and she actually found it amusing. She just threatened to kill him if Ao ever tried criticizing anything.

So much for being an advisor, he supposed.

There was always Shikaku Nara, who understood his pain, the two later found drinking and complaining about their fellow Kage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy International Women's Day! I wrote Mei taking no shit from the older men because honestly? She deserved to be pretty badass.  
> Thank you so much for reading!


	13. pragma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pragma, the love that endures. 
> 
> Kisame and Itachi come to realize the feelings they have for one another, but neither is willing to outwardly admit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got around to writing some semblance of romance.

The summit cleared, the fellow Kage and their entourage heading to their respective inns. Snow was falling gently from the sky, reminiscent of the time Kisame and Itachi took a mission to the same village, the snowfall enough to have them postpone the mission for several days.

Kisame remembered Itachi curled up on his futon, coughing up blood, crimson starkly contrasting the pure white.

He was lost in thought, remembering little pieces from past missions, eight years spent at Itachi’s side.

He genuinely was upset that his partner didn’t seek him out once he had been healed. The thought that he simply was an afterthought, only just meeting by fate at the summit, left a bitter taste in his mouth. He was also livid over the fact that his partner had lied to him all these years, secretly leaking information to his home village.

Itachi had to have his reasons, but at the moment, Kisame didn’t want to even know.

Itachi, the thirteen turning fourteen year old he had met on those docks ages ago, threatening just as gentle. The serious threats coming from his soft tone had always baffled him, how his partner could speak so smoothly when describing his deadly visual prowess.

This was the same Itachi who, for years, would consistently drag Kisame into different teashops under the guise of needing a break. Kisame had known about his partner’s sweet tooth, Itachi always ordering what he deemed an unhealthy amount of sugary pastries. They would leave and Itachi would seem calmer, happier, enjoying in that little pleasure so unique to him.

The same partner he had grown to respect, and as Itachi grew into a man, grown to love. Kisame hadn’t noticed it until the illness began to take its toll on him, shortly after he turned nineteen. He didn’t mind the countless deviations from their missions to go visit doctors, to go grab medicinal herbs. It comforted him to know that he could help Itachi in some way, when his partner had coughing fits so bad he could barely sleep, appetite waning. Kisame would cook foods he would like, simple things Itachi could eat with his bird-like bites. He would hold his hair back as he got sick, rubbing soothing circles into sore muscles with his hands.

He remembered one time, Itachi had passed out from overusing his abilities, and nearly had a heart attack when he woke up, Kisame carrying him back to where they had been staying. He remembered the squeeze to his heart when Itachi calmed, a soft smile on his face as he let himself close his eyes, allowing his partner to carry him back.

His partner. It was all Kisame was to Itachi, his partner in the Akatsuki. It was only wishful thinking, he believed, that Itachi would return his feelings.

“You’re thinking too loud,” Mei said, sitting down beside him. “I would have thought you’d be seeking your partner out, Kisame, rather than sitting here, with all of us,”

Kisame looked out the window of their inn room, seeing the Tsuchikage and his guards enter the inn across from them.

“He’s over there,” Mei offered. “I asked Lady Hokage. Go, before-”

“Before you melt me?”

Mei smiled fondly, glancing over her shoulder to Ao scolding Chojuro, their familiar banter filling her ears like sweet music.

“How did you know?” she teased, patting him on the shoulder before getting up to go check Chojuro’s temperature. He had been complaining about being feverish. “I’m sure he wants to see you as greatly as you want to see him,”

Shrugging Samehada back onto his shoulder, he slipped out of the room.

 

“I’m nervous,” Itachi admitted.

“He was your partner, right?” Sasuke looked at him with a blank expression. “He’ll forgive you for not telling him immediately. You were busy,”

“I wasn’t busy sitting alone in a house, reading books for two months,” Itachi argued, but Sasuke rolled his eyes.

“You were on medical leave. Hokage’s orders,”

Itachi gripped the teacup in his hand, trying to will the shaking in his fingers to cease.

He had loved Kisame for a long time. It was probably due to the lack of love he had, having his family gone. Kisame was a constant figure in his life for the past eight years, every day and night side by side. He had seen Itachi at his worst, had seen him off to his death.

Itachi pretended he didn’t see the pain in Kisame’s face when he turned to leave, asking him to hold Sasuke’s teammates, only allowing his brother to come fight him, not leaving on any sentimental note.

He pushed his feelings aside, needing to die for Sasuke’s sake.

Oh, how destiny had changed, leading him down a new path.

“This is honestly kind of lame,” Karin said, watching the brothers argue over romance advice of all things. Sasuke, with only his knowledge from his past with Naruto, and with what love Taka seemed to have. Itachi, with no experience other than this deep rooted love laced with loyalty and trust.

“Well, I think this is funny,” Suigetsu said, taking a sip from his water bottle.

 

“Just tell him,”

“No, I can’t,”

“Itachi, tell him your feelings,” Sasuke said, eyes darting to his teammates. “You’ll regret a life without letting him know,”

Itachi frowned, looking down at the tealeaves that collected at the bottom of his cup. He couldn’t ruin the respect Kisame had for him by introducing foolish emotions.

He had always assumed Kisame did things with him outside of missions out of boredom or out of keeping a track on his younger partner. Though Itachi was technically his senior in the Akatsuki, he still was a decade younger, and Hidan, when he was around, asked Kisame all the time how babysitting duty was going, despite being only a year older than Itachi.

His suspicions had been confirmed one day, overhearing a conversation between Sasori and Kisame, discussing the youth of their partners.

Kisame simply saw him as the teenager he was when he joined. He could never see him as he was now, twenty-one, feelings holding true.

Itachi had tried removing all love from his life, but the eternal familial love he had for Sasuke and the love he held deeply for Kisame remained present.

“I spent two months with him in Kiri, Ita,” Suigetsu said, lounging next to Karin, who made a face as he got too close to her personal space. “He wouldn’t shut up about all the things you did together. The guy’s gotta feel something for you,”

Itachi processed what he said, setting down the now empty teacup. Sasuke looked at him expectantly, waiting for his brother to get up from their spot of playing shogi and leave, to chase after his partner.

Uchihas loved with the deepest love, and Sasuke could tell from the look in his brother’s eye.

It was the same look their father would give mother when she wasn’t looking. It was the same gentleness his mother would give him when she consoled him during fits as a young child.

There was a knock on the door, and Itachi sensed his familiar chakra before he even let himself in.

“Kisame,” he said.

“Itachi,” the Swordsman shifted from foot to foot. “Will you accompany me on a walk?”

Itachi glanced over to Suigetsu, who was making faces at Kisame. Karin gave him a small nod, resuming her reading of a scroll she brought from Uzushio.

Sasuke scoffed.

“Get out of here, Itachi,” he said, placing his final shogi piece down with a loud _clack_. “Checkmate, by the way,”

It was the first and only time Sasuke would ever beat him at shogi.

 

The walk down the empty halls of the inn were filled with silence, silence that made Itachi’s skin buzz with nervous energy. They exited the inn, walking down the path that led towards the forest, evergreen trees coated in the fine powdery dust.

“If you wish to say something,” Itachi said, glancing up at his former partner. “Then you should come outright and say it, rather than be discreet. Secrets and lies were never your forte,”

Kisame stopped, turning to face Itachi. Itachi looked so different, wearing standard jonin garb. A contrast from the red and black cloak he used to wear. It also made him painfully aware that Itachi hadn’t bothered to grab a cloak, snow falling and collecting in his ebony hair.

He looked beautiful, regardless of what he wore, Kisame realized, shrugging off the thick grey cloak with the clasp of the Mizukage’s guard on it.

Itachi let out a soft chuckle as Kisame draped the cloak over his thin shoulders, shaking his head.

“Even now, you are still concerned for my health,” Itachi touched the clasp on the cloak, a small smile on his face. “Lady Hokage and Sakura are doing an excellent job preventing any relapse in my health. I assure you,”

“Why did you not tell me?” Kisame asked, unable to find it within himself to get angry. Had it not been Itachi, had it been anyone else, he would have already sunk Samehada into them. He should be screaming, demanding answers instead of waiting patiently for them.

Itachi gazed at his partner. He seemed unperturbed by the cold, the long sleeves of his haori concealing strong arms that Itachi had once seen choke out a feudal lord. Kisame looked out of place, dressed in the same fashion as the Mizukage’s advisor, but it wasn’t a bad look.

He looked handsome, Itachi thought, drawing the cloak a little closer. It was still warm from where it had been wrapped around broad shoulders, a large back Itachi had seen countless times over and over, and would never tire of seeing.

Itachi never had to explain anything, Kisame realized. He already knew the answer. He saw the closeness of the brothers, the light that had returned to Itachi’s eyes, a light he had not seen before.

“Your eyesight?” Kisame brought a large hand to Itachi’s face, cupping one side. His hand was warm, Itachi’s skin still colder.

Itachi’s hands found the one cupping his face, leaning into his palm with a soft smile.

“I can see you clearly,” he said, Sharingan reflecting his heart’s emotions. His face was turning red, feeling flustered.

Kisame found himself smiling, flashing a toothy grin to his former partner.

 

“God, what saps,” Karin groaned, gazing through her binoculars. “Why are we here, again?”

“Be quiet, Karin,” Sasuke said, watching the two from a distance.

“You should let them be, ya know?” Naruto said, shrugging. “They obviously want privacy,”

“Yeah, but I’m nosy,” Suigetsu snatched Karin’s binoculars from her hands. “Ugh, gross. He put his hand on his face. That’s not sweet,”

“It kind of is,” Sakura said, leaning closer onto Karin to see. Suigetsu made a gagging noise, handing them back.

“He should have read Icha Icha when I offered,” Kakashi mused.

“He was twelve, Kakashi,” Yamato said, stifling a laugh.

“I can’t see any more,” he said, standing. Sasuke yanked him back down, glaring at him.

“Keep quiet, Suigetsu,”

Jugo and Sai watched the group of spies from the comfort of the warm inn, respecting the privacy that was desired.

 

“I believe we’re being watched,” Itachi said, turning in the direction of the group.

“Never a dull moment with you, eh?”

“Apparently not when you have a dear little brother who is overprotective,” Itachi shook his head. “And former teammates who are invested in drama,”

Kisame withdrew his hand, Itachi’s nimble fingers slipping from his.

“How is Konan?”

“She’s managing,” Kisame said, frowning. “Obito is getting bolder as the days go on. She’s worried he might attack Nagato when he’s weak,”

“The Six Paths can protect him,” Itachi said. “Obito will not attack if he’s not certain of victory,”

“Otherwise, she’s well,” Kisame concluded. “She misses you,”

“You speak of me,” not a question, a statement.

“I do,”

“Hopefully nothing ill-willed,”

“I would never,”

 

 _“Hopefully nothing ill-willed,”_ Karin mocked, rolling her eyes. “They’re just dancing around each other. Sasuke, I swear, your brother is even more oblivious to his feelings than you are,”

Sakura covered her mouth, coughing to hide her laughter. Sasuke huffed, Suigetsu whining by his side about being cold, the chatter of his teeth filling the air.

 

“There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you,” Kisame said. “I’ve wanted to say it for a while,”

“There’s something I’ve needed to tell you, as well,” Itachi said, shortening the distance between them. He still had to tilt his head back to view his partner’s face, but now, he could easily close the distance between them if he desired.

“I’ve been so lost without you, since that fight. I thought you were dead, Itachi,”

The pain in his voice was enough to cut deep. Itachi was shaking with nervousness, the closeness to Kisame making him realize that he was here, in front of him. This was no dream, he would not wake alone in his cottage by the border of the Land of Water, wishing to be waking in the strong arms of the Swordsman.

Kisame brought his hand back up to Itachi’s cheek, cupping the fat there.

He roughly pinched, Itachi’s face scrunching up in pain.

“You are real,” he laughed, letting out a deep sigh.

“I would hope so. I am no reanimation, simply flesh and blood,”

“Human,”

“Human, not fish,” Itachi reiterated, a reminder of their first meeting.

“You still wear your ring,” Kisame noted.

“As do you,”

Kisame took Itachi’s right hand in his, slipping off the scarlet ring. He extended his left hand, removing the amber ring from his finger and replacing it on Itachi’s right hand. Itachi watched as Kisame slid his ring onto his pinky, unable to fit it on his ring finger due to Itachi’s own thinner fingers.

“You’re no longer my partner in the Akatsuki,” Itachi said, looking down at the kanji for south. “There is no need for us to be friends,”

“I would like to be, if you would allow it,”

“I’m walking a new path in life,” he couldn’t meet the Swordsman’s eyes. “I need to protect my village, my brother. He’s created a new team, and I want to protect them, to let my brother live a life of happiness,”

“You deserve happiness, too, Itachi,”

“No,” Itachi shook his head, fighting the sudden burn of tears. “I murdered my clan. I led a life of darkness for the sake of what? I’ve harmed my brother in more ways that I could have imagined. My plan went awry,”

“Please, don’t give me those ocean eyes, Itachi,”

 

Kakashi brushed a tear from his cheek, leaning into Yamato as they tried to prevent a sudden outburst of giggles. Sasuke was gripping the binoculars Karin gave him in his hands, looking about two seconds from vaulting over the wall they were hiding behind and strangling Kisame. Sakura had dozed off, head resting on Karin’s shoulder, the two bundled tightly in their cloaks.

“That is the most cliché thing I think I’ve ever heard,” Suigetsu said. “Spoken like a true Mist shinobi, I guess. He’s been hanging around the Mizukage too much, lately. Her fanaticism with romance is probably rubbing off on him,”

“I’ve had enough,” Sasuke grit out, standing up. “I’m leaving,”

 

“It’s getting cold,” Kisame brushed some of the snow from Itachi’s bangs, tucking the loose strands behind his ear. “We might want to head back before we catch a cold,”

Itachi found himself smile, feeling his face flush.

“You always caught them from me,” he said. “Would you care to continue this over some hot tea, preferably in my room?”

“That would be nice,”

 

Itachi was thankful he had a room to himself this time around. As much as he enjoyed his brother’s company, his team often collapsed into a pile when they slept, and Itachi could only deal with Suigetsu shifting hundreds of times in his sleep, kicking out for so long.

He still felt nervous, the cloak still wrapped around his shoulders, warm cup of tea in hand. Kisame sat across from him at the little table, a semblance of normalcy.

“Konan and Pein will be here tomorrow,” Kisame said, sliding the honey across the table to Itachi. “We’ll have a nice little reunion, it seems,”

“We’re missing several members,”

“You and I both know the Zombie Combo hated us,” Kisame said. “Kakuzu was mad that we got the higher paying missions,”

“Hidan hated me for being a pacifist,” Itachi clutched his cup. “Deidara was angry at me for trapping him in that genjutsu, and he in turn took out his anger for me on Sasuke,”

“Sasori was alright,”

“He tried poisoning you,”

“Yeah,”

Comfortable silence fell over them, and it seemed they fell back into place, the same as they had been before.

Kisame watched Itachi across the table, finely painted fingers coming to fiddle with the necklace he wore around his neck. The necklace he had gifted him on his sixteenth birthday, having found it in passing as he gazed at the jewelry stalls lining the market in Amegakure. It had been on a whim, but Itachi never took it off.

Everything seemed to make sense, he realized. He never took off the necklace he had been gifted, their nail polish, once mandatory, had remained the same since their defection, the matching purple adoring their hands.

Kisame’s ring fit awkwardly on Itachi’s ring finger, but he noticed the constant glance down at the saffron yellow surface.

He just saw it as a partnership, a friendship.

He let out a discontented sigh. At least he would have his company, platonic if not romantic.

Itachi sat, feeling anxiety bubble in his chest, unsure whether or not he should share his feelings to Kisame. The man had said he deserved happiness, and the only true happiness Itachi had would be to see Sasuke living a happy life, but having companionship, someone to come back and hold, someone not his brother to love and protect, would be nice, as well.

Itachi went to open his mouth, ready to confess, when Kisame stood.

“I should get heading back,” he announced. “Mei might start worrying about my whereabouts,”

“Oh,” Itachi looked down at his hands, fidgeting with the ring. “Well, goodnight, Kisame,”

“Goodnight, Itachi. Sleep well,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kisame's outfit was totally inspired by this one piece by L Pilz, who drew him and Ao. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Feel free to comment and let me know how you're liking/disliking things!  
> Thank you again!


	14. Negotiations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Five Kage Summit reconvenes.

Konan was not expecting the warm welcome into the summit, the sound of her shinobi-grade boots clicking throughout the hallway with every graceful step she took. The samurai residing over the summit had been nothing but kind, redirecting her towards the conference room.

The room would be devoid of the majority of the entourages of the Kage. Only the leaders, guard, and advisors would be present.

Nagato was resting in their room at the inn, a barrier of finely made seals Jiraiya had once taught her preventing anyone who was not her into the room. The trip had taken its toll on him, and he needed as much rest as possible in the event he needed to defend himself.

Accompanied by the Deva Path, Konan entered the summit room, taking her stance next to Pein, who sat where Mifune had sat two days prior, the master samurai now seated behind her, watching the proceedings.

Scanning the room, she made note of all exits, her eyes flitting across the multiple faces in the room. She recognized Itachi immediately, having forgone the mask. Kisame stood off to her left, a careful eye over the Mizukage. The Tsuchikage was eyeing her warily, while the Raikage simply sat with his arms folded, his advisor and right hand by his side. The Kazekage looked tired, staring with an owlish look.

“Now that the representatives of Amegakure are here,” Mifune began. “We need to discuss the upcoming threat that is the Akatsuki. I would like to give the leader a chance to speak before we continue where the discussions left off,”

Silence fell over the floor, all eyes on Pein.

“We of the Akatsuki have one goal,” Pein said, voice smooth. “War will never end, it appears. Conflict will not cease. Our goal is to cause so much destruction and catastrophe that this world will know pain, and will no longer wish to create suffering. Through pain and suffering, we will end all unnecessary war. That is the goal of the Akatsuki,”

“Ending conflict through conflict will never work,” Ohnoki scoffed. “How do you intend to do so? Kill us, then take over the shinobi world?”

“If I may, Tsuchikage,” Konan interjected. “Due to warfare between your village, under your leadership, and the Leaf, our families were murdered. We were orphaned and left for dead because small villages such as ours were caught in the crossfire of larger nations wars. Once treaties were made, you never made reparations with those villages, such as ours. None of the Five Great Nations did,”

Ohnoki for once looked stunned into silence, having been called out for his insufficient leadership.

“Upon meeting you now, Tsuchikage,” Konan said, glaring him down. “I can see why Deidara destroyed your village,”

“Are you supporting his decision?” Ohnoki said. “Are you allying yourself with a terrorist? That’s all you lot are, terrorists and outcasts,”

“I beg to differ,” Pein said. “In order to obtain true peace, we wish to continue striving for our goal. For that, we wish for something in exchange,”

“And what would that be?” Ay asked.

Pein stared right at Itachi, Rinnegan piercing.

“We want our members back,” Pein said. “Our forces have been shortened due to Konoha’s unnecessary interference. We want Hidan brought back from the Nara forest, and Itachi to come back to our ranks, Kisame as well,”

“Like hell you will,” Tsunade stood, slamming her hand on the desk. “I’m not handing over Itachi to you. He’s been forgiven for his past transgressions to the village, and has sworn his loyalty to Konoha,”

Pein raised his hand, making the move to weave a hand sign. Konan didn’t see the shuriken fly out, pinning the sleeve to his cloak to the table.

Within a flash, it seemed, Sasuke stood protectively in front of his brother, katana drawn.

“I didn’t realize your ANBU needed his own guard,” Gaara mused, watching the Sharingan whirl in Sasuke’s eyes.

“Make any move and I will burn you,” Sasuke threatened, only relaxing with the reassuring hand on his shoulder from Itachi.

“I refuse,” Mei said, pursing pink lips. “I refuse to hand over my Swordsman,”

“What would we gain in return?” Ay asked. “I see no positive gain from this,”

“I promise to hand over Obito Uchiha, and any information I have on his plots,” Konan said. “Dead or alive, I’m not sure. But I would hand him back to Konoha,”

“Handing over one traitor for two,” Ohnoki shook his head. “As much as I personally want to see those two tried for their crimes, I think this is a useless meeting, and a terrible bargain,”

“Then we seem to be at an impasse,” Pein said, removing the shuriken from his cloak.

 

It took three hours of debating, of renegotiating.

“I’m tired,” Naruto said, sitting around the table in their inn room. “And hungry. I want some ramen, ya know?”

“They should be done soon,” Sai said, not looking up from his sketchbook, oil pastels scattered across the table in front of him. He was sketching the landscape from outside, the vast amount of trees and mountains covered in snow.

Sakura was lounging next to Karin, the two talking softly as they reviewed over an Uzumaki scroll for healing. Yamato and Kakashi were out, probably waiting in the hall outside the summit for the hearing to be over.

“Where’s Suigetsu and Jugo?” Naruto asked, peering over at Karin.

“Who knows? Hopefully they got lost and fell in a hole,” she said, shrugging. “Now, see this seal? I think this was a scroll from Mito Uzumaki, the First Lady of your village. Something about the development of the seal your Hokage has,”

“I’ll have that seal soon,” Sakura said, tapping the center of her forehead. “I need about a month or so, and I’ll have all the chakra I need for it. Does it say anything about chakra restoration?”

The two resumed their scanning of the document, ignoring the whines of hunger coming from Naruto.

 

“No, no, no!” Suigetsu shook his head, clicking his tongue. “You’ve got it wrong!”

“I’m sorry,” Chojuro stuttered, clinging Hiramekarei.

“The Silent Killing is so easy,” he rolled his eyes. “My bro taught me when I was _four_ ,”

“I’m sorry,” Chojuro repeated, looking down at the handle of the great sword he held. “Mister Hoshigaki keeps trying to teach me, but I just can’t seem to get it down yet,”

Suigetsu sighed, weaving the hand signs he had known practically since birth. Mist swirled around him, the thick fog allowing him to sneak upon any opponent.

“Focus on your hearing,” Jugo offered, feeding the bird perched on his shoulder some seed he had gotten from Itachi. “And your senses. Sense Suigetsu around you,”

“I’m trying,” Chojuro sighed, closing his eyes. He focused on the air around him, sensing movement off behind his right.

Swinging Hiramekarei in time to correctly block the Executioner’s Blade, the mist dissipated, a happy Suigetsu standing over him.

“Nice job, kiddo,” he teased.

“I’m older than you,”

“Yeah, but I’m the second coming of the Demon, and I’ve been training to be a Swordsman since I could walk,” Suigetsu shelfed the Executioner’s Blade over his shoulder, flashing a sharp grin. “I can’t wait to rub it in Kisame’s face that I taught you in half an hour and he couldn’t get it done in two months,”

“We were focusing more on my swordsmanship than the actual jutsu,” Chojuro said, glancing over in the direction of the summit. “I wonder how Lady Mizukage is doing?”

 

“This meeting has been trivial and useless,” Ay shook his head. “We aren’t getting anywhere,”

“If I may, Mifune,” Itachi spoke, raising his hand. “If I could speak with Konan alone, for five minutes at most,”

“Fine,” Mifune sighed. “The two of you may step into the hall and discuss,”

They left the room, leaving the disgruntled Kage to discuss amongst themselves.

 

“Itachi,” Konan sighed, shutting the door behind her. The hall was empty, granting them privacy. “I’m so relieved that you’re safe,”

“Why are you siding with Obito?” he asked. “I thought you of all people would understand wanting to end unnecessary bloodshed, and would want to work closer to peace,”

“I do,” Konan said. “Nagato and I keep disagreeing. He’s hellbent on destroying the Leaf, Itachi. You may have killed Danzo, but that village still killed his parents,”

“That village made me kill my parents,” Itachi said bluntly. “And I’m not vying to destroy it. I’m trying to protect my village. I thought you wanted to protect Amegakure,”

“I do,”

“Then why try to cause more destruction? You might end up creating a cycle once more. Who’s to say that once you cause this mass catastrophe, that there won’t be a child who grows up to have similar views to Nagato?”

“Itachi, please,” Konan reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We need you back in Ame,”

“I doubt that, Konan. I truly do,”

“I want you there to help me kill Obito,” she said. “He might grow desperate. I understand that your clan has special forbidden jutsu. If he kills me, he’ll go after Nagato. I need you to tell me the forbidden jutsus, and how to counter them,”

Itachi shook his head.

“Only an Uchiha can counter the Izanagi,” he said. “It’s counter, the Izanami, was created by my grandmother to prevent the Izanagi from getting out of control. I do not wish to go back simply to use forbidden jutsu my tainted bloodline created and then proceeded to hide,”

Konan sighed, hearing a knock on the door.

It was Kisame, slipping out into the hall.

“You have two more minutes,” he alerted them. “Why do you need us back, Konan?”

“I need you both to help me,” she said. “I need to protect my village, and I can’t do it alone,”

“You’re strong,” Kisame said. “Stronger than the both of us,”

“Not alone,” she said. “Not against the Sharingan. I need you there, Kisame. You’re indebted to me, and I’m in need of your assistance,”

“You sound like Kakuzu when you put it like that,” Kisame shook his head. “I’ll see what I can do,”

“I refuse,” Itachi said. “I need to stay and protect my brother,”

“Fine,” Konan said, looking hurt. “When I’m lying dead in the lake surrounding Ame because you refused to help me, then don’t you dare leave any flowers at my tombstone,”

With that, she stormed back into the conference room, slamming the sliding door shut.

 

“It’s been decided,” Mifune said, reading over the treaty. “Amegakure will gain reparations from both Iwagakure and Konohagakure. Kirigakure will be allowed to build back up the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, under new direction of Kisame Hoshigaki, who will be supervised by Ao and the Mizukage. Kumogakure will be allowed to take the Nine Tails Jinchuriki for special training under Lord Bee. The Akatsuki will henceforth be disbanded, the Amekage will have to report to the Five Kage every three months. Our new goal is to find Obito Uchiha and Kabuto Yakushi in order to prevent them from using the Reanimation Jutsu created by the Nidaime Hokage, and we will create a unified army called the Allied Shinobi Forces in the event conflict occurs,”

Tsunade raised her hand, waiting for Mifune to give her an acknowledged nod.

“Will you revoke the terrorist statuses of the now former members of the Akatsuki?” she asked, and Mifune quickly noted that down into the treaty. “Thank you,”

“Will this be all?” Ohnoki yawned. “I’m tired of this,”

“Tsuchikage,” Ay shouted. “Don’t be rude,”

“I believe we should focus on preserving the last two Jinchuriki,” Gaara said. “You stated, Amekage, that the tailed beasts are sealed away in the Gedo Statue, which in now under the summoning command of Obito Uchiha?”

Pein stared blankly, Konan nodding in his stead.

“Then we should focus on protecting Naruto,” he said. “He’s my friend, I can vouch for him,”

“Well, if this is all settled,” Mifune said. “Then I call the Five Kage Summit adjourned. You are all dismissed,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please don't hesitate to leave feedback, comment on what you like/dislike about this, I'm open to constructive criticism! 
> 
> Thank you again! :)


	15. Divided

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon coming home, a fight ensues.  
> Sasuke chooses where his loyalties lie.

Everything goes to shit once they all get back to Konoha.

 

It had started out as a small argument, just a simple disagreement. Itachi had decided to go back to the small home he had, far from Konoha, to destress from the summit. After negotiations had wrapped up, Sasuke vaguely saw him sneak off with the other few Akatsuki members, only to return about ten minutes later, ready to head home and an angry look in his eyes. He hadn’t bothered asking, simply seeing him off to what he would now call home, a promise to visit from time to time.

Returning home, however, was when things began to escalate.

Shockingly, it was Jugo of all people to cause it. Naruto had made an off comment, which hadn’t settled right with him.

“Ya know, for being Sasuke’s new team and all, you sure don’t act like one,” Naruto said as they walked the streets of Konoha, heading back for the Hokage’s tower.

“What do you mean by that?” Jugo asked.

“Well, like,” Naruto shrugged. “I know you guys are pretty decent and all, but you are Orochimaru’s subordinates, and since he was a bad guy, that kind of makes you bad guys, too. We didn’t really figure out what we’re gonna do with you guys at the summit,”

“I don’t understand where you’re getting at,”

At this point, Sakura and Karin had stopped talking about medical ninjutsu, halting in their tracks.

“I’m saying that you guys are in an odd spot, ya know?” Naruto said. “Cause Sasuke’s got Team Seven, and he’s coming back with us,”

“I never said I was staying permanently, Naruto,” Sasuke said, taking his place next to Jugo’s side.

“But we’re your team!” Naruto whined.

“We’re his team,” Jugo said, motioning towards Karin and Suigetsu.

“No, you’re not,” Naruto said. “We’re Team Seven, your little snake team isn’t Sasuke’s team,”

“Naruto!” Sasuke snapped, glaring at him. “Do not speak of my team like that!”

“It’s true, isn’t it?” Naruto asked. “Sakura, me, and Kakashi-sensei are your team! Not a couple of rejected experiments-”

Naruto’s train of thought was cut short from the crack of his jaw, Jugo pulling back his fist. Sakura rushed to Naruto’s side, hands already glowing to help set the jaw.

“Sasuke!” she glared up at him. “Make him apologize!”

“I don’t have to do anything,” Sasuke said. “He insulted my teammates. The idiot deserved it. If Jugo hadn’t hit him, I would have,”

“Are you alright, Jugo?” Karin asked, coming to check on Jugo’s hand. His knuckles looked a tad swollen, but nothing appeared broken.

“He still shouldn’t have hit him!” Sakura sighed, smacking Naruto’s cheeks. “C’mon, wake up,”

“Nice hit,” Suigetsu noted.

When Naruto came to, he was furious.

“What is your problem?” he shouted, rubbing his sore jaw.

“You don’t know when to shut up, do you?” Sasuke shook his head. “I’m not going to apologize. You insulted my teammates, and you’re in the wrong,”

“They’re not your teammates!” Naruto screamed. “We are!”

“Then where were you when I needed you?” Sasuke screamed back, matching Naruto in volume and just as much in anger.

“Trying to bring you back, asshole!”

“Oh, by just telling me that you’re my friend?” Sasuke let his Sharingan whirl, staring down Naruto. “Did you just expect me to stay just because you wanted me to?”

“Yeah, actually, I was!”

“You don’t care about me. Not you, not Sakura, not Kakashi. You all abandoned me when I needed you all the most!”

“No, we didn’t! You were being a stubborn dick and wouldn’t accept any of our help!”

“So you tried chasing after me and forcing me to stay? Force me against my will? You spent three years fucking around with Jiraiya just so that you could drag me back to the village that murdered my whole family, and keep me locked in like a caged bird? I don’t think so, Naruto,”

“I spent all that time chasing you to bring you home!”

“I have a home,” Sasuke said, feeling anger burn like fire in his chest. “And it’s not here. It’s not with you, or with Kakashi and Sakura. It’s not in Konoha. I _hate_ it here, Naruto,”

“Then why even bother coming back?” Naruto asked.

“I had to heal my brother,” Sasuke said. “And let you know how rotten this village is for lying about what really happened,”

“I don’t see how this loops back to-”

“I hate being around you, Naruto,” Sasuke seethed. “You don’t _get_ it, you _fucking_ _idiot_ ,”

“Sasuke, calm down,” Sakura tried to mediate. “You don’t hate Naruto,”

“I have nothing against you right now, Sakura,” Sasuke warned. “So shut up, and let me deal with this,”

“No,” Sakura stood back up. “You abandoned us, and we tried so hard to come after you! You don’t get to come back and act like a jerk! Don’t forget who healed your brother,”

“So you’re going to hold that over my head now?” Sasuke asked. “Then I guess I should have let him die. Then, you two could go on living in this little fantasy that Konoha is so wonderful and perfect, and not the corrupt, rotting village this place truly is. You’re going to demand I come back home to a place that I don’t want to stay in, and then insult my teammates?”

“Well, when you put it that way…” Naruto mumbled.

“Team Taka is my team,” Sasuke said. “I chose them. I chose them, and they stood by my side when you just stood by while this village wanted to deem me a rogue and have me killed. When I do something, they understand me and stand by my side and help me. You two fucks just argue with me over everything. You always have, since we were kids. I wish I never was assigned to your team,”

“Sasuke,” Sakura reached out, to try to put a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m leaving,” Sasuke shook his head. “Don’t you dare follow me this time, Naruto,”

Sasuke pivoted on his feet, storming off towards the gate. Jugo and Suigetsu followed behind, leaving Karin.

“I’m sorry,” Sakura said, looking down at her feet.

“It’s okay,” Karin said. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Sakura,”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Naruto said. “I’m just worried where your loyalties lie,”

“Our loyalties lie with Sasuke,” Karin said. “I’m disappointed, Naruto. I was excited to have family, to have a cousin. I had fun when we went to Uzushio together, but now that we’re apparently just Orochimaru’s rejected subjects, then I’d rather have no family at all,”

With that, she turned her back on them, walking to go back to her team.


	16. Time Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke does a lot more thinking, and Team Taka ends up going on a mini vacation.

“You really went off, Sasuke,” Suigetsu said, setting down his spoon. They had stopped at a café, tired from walking. Sasuke sat across from him, arms folded and glaring down at his cup of tea, as if it had just bit him. Karin shifted at his side, looking uncomfortable.

Jugo had gone for a walk to clear his head, having almost snapped. He said something about needing to be surrounded by nature, not that Suigetsu would stop him.

“I said what I needed to,” Sasuke mumbled, angrily grabbing at his onigiri.

“You went a bit too far,” Karin said, worrying her lip with her teeth.

“Naruto shouldn’t have insulted you all like that,”

“Does he know about what happened to us?”

“No,”

“Then you can’t _really_ be mad at him,” Karin sighed, shaking her head. “He told me he was worried because we all have bounties on our heads. He wasn’t sure if we were enemies or not,”

“That doesn’t matter,” Sasuke stood abruptly. “I’m going to lie down,”

Their leader stormed off, his chakra flaring with anger. Karin laid her head down on the table, breathing in deep through her nose to calm down.

It had hurt, the things Naruto had said, but she remembered how wary he had been with her when they visited Uzushio. He was gone half the time, anyway, perfecting sage mode, but when he did come back, she would tell him a bit of their travels together as a team. He seemed eager to hear their travel tales, but always seemed to space out when she talked about having to do dirty work, anything having to do with Orochimaru. She felt ignored half the time, but whenever she mentioned something like having to stop and making Sasuke try to eat natto, then he would listen.

“Well, when you look at us lot, we do look scary,” Suigetsu said, taking a bite of the ice cream he ordered.

“That’s not it,” Karin said, setting her glasses aside to rub her eyes. “Sasuke’s also being a jerk,”

“Yeah,” Suigetsu said. He started into a fit of giggles, turning into his odd quack of laughter.

“What’s so funny, Suigetsu?” Karin snapped.

“I just realized something,” he said in between giggles. “He’s the baby, and he sure is acting like one,”

“The baby?”

“Yeah, the baby,” Suigetsu calmed himself down to explain. “Jugo’s 19, I just turned 18, and you’re a whole month older than Sasuke. He was born last, therefore, making him the baby of this team,”

Karin snickered, her laughter turning into snorting.

While they may be at each other’s throats half the time, anyone who walked past their table at the café, watching one squawk like a duck and one snorting like a pig, would see two friends sharing a poorly made joke, laughing so hard they clutched their stomachs.

 

In the dark of the room at the inn they had gotten, far from the main hub of Konoha, Sasuke allowed himself to press his face into the pillow, screaming out his frustrations.

Naruto never saw him as a friend, he thought, only a rival, demanding he come home for his sake, not for Sasuke’s own personal gain. All shared touches, brief kisses in between being held, it had felt nice, but it felt hollow. He remembered Naruto shoving him against a wall shortly after they had arrived back in Konoha, tears streaming down his face as he babbled apologies to him before crushing his lips to his. It hurt, Sasuke remembered, the feeling of his heart pounding against his chest, fear coursing through his body. He thought of how he let himself melt into the kiss, clinging to Naruto as if he would slip away, surely undeserving of the love he gave him. He shouldn’t be able to love someone as sweet as Naruto, someone who literally shined like the sun. The savior of Konoha, people were beginning to call him. Sasuke had done so much bad, had hurt him so much, he shouldn’t be deserving of happiness.

It made him feel sick.

Sakura. Sakura had chased after him with this stupid crush of hers in their genin days, and while she may be a formidable kunoichi now, he still noticed how wary she was to approach him. He wasn’t the same kid she fell in love with, and she wasn’t the same girl he left on that bench all those years ago, giving her hand one last reassuring squeeze and a kiss to the forehead before disappearing into the night. They always seemed to be tiptoeing this weird dance around one another, unsure of what to say. He remembered seeing her walking down the hall of the hospital, hand in hand with Ino, sharing quick pecks and quieted giggles. It was relieving that she had gotten over him, had found someone who truly loved her, but she had never made the effort to truly know him back when they were Team Seven.

Neither of them did, he realized. Kakashi simply tried aiding him in teaching the Chidori, making him an effective killing machine. Naruto’s rivalry was a friendship he had cherished, but when Naruto left with Jiraiya, he stopped searching for him. Sakura had just seen him as a crush and didn’t take the time to understand what pain he had been going through from the massacre. Their team was destined to fall apart from the start. Kakashi only pitied him for his failure at getting through Itachi, the jonin himself not ready for a team, too depressed and full of regret to properly handle teaching three children. Naruto had his own trauma, growing up alone and shunned by the village that his parents fought and died to protect. Sakura happened to be a byproduct of their failures, Kakashi refusing to take the time to actually train her the way he did with Sasuke, feeling inadequate due to his shortcomings, due to no one having the time to set her down, train her in taijutsu. Sakura was a master now, but at twelve, she was so scared, always worrying. Sasuke mused, now, that she possibly would have been a greater genjutsu user than even Itachi himself, had someone taken the time to train her.

Team Seven was Sasuke’s first family apart from his own flesh and blood, but it was not a healthy bond that he had witnessed with Team Ten, Team Eight.

He knew they cared, sure, but it still stung, the harmful things Naruto had said about his team. He chose them, they chose him. They loved him unconditionally and had seen his darkest side. Where Naruto would try to change that, Taka embraced him for who he was, let him know he was still needed. When everything got confusing, having Itachi back and the summit, they kept him sane, kept him grounded. They didn’t ask unnecessary questioned. They understood one another. Sasuke could tell when Suigetsu was getting antsy from being holed up in tight, enclosed spaces, the way his eyes would dart to possible exits, how he sometimes would begin to panic in small rooms, silent, the way Kiri had taught him at a young age. He could tell the signs of Karin disassociating, the way she would nervously rub her arms and be wary of men’s looks, how she hid her bitemark scars in fear of being looked at. He was Jugo’s cage, keeping him safe and secure from his bad thoughts, the telltale signs now second nature. A simple touch, to ground him, to let him know he didn’t have to kill, to rampage. In return, he knew that they could tell when he needed some form of comfort. They had all been victims to Orochimaru, in many ways. Karin hated needles, Suigetsu feared glass encasements. Jugo hated feeling strapped down, Sasuke hated the feel of anything snake-like on his skin that wasn’t his summon, reminiscent of hands that used to linger too long, too close for comfort. Together, they survived, had lived.

Taka understood him in more ways than Team Seven could, and he’d be damned if they tried taking that from him.

There was a knock on the door, silence, and then the door slid open.

“Sasuke?”

Sasuke let out a sigh, pulling his face from the pillow.

Suigetsu.

“What is it?” he bit out, watching his teammate look at him with an amused expression.

“Karin’s getting Jugo,” he said. “Wanted to know if you wanted to go relax in the baths later on,”

“That’s fine,” Sasuke said, rolling back onto his side. “Go, now. I want to be left alone,”

“No can do, baby captain,” Suigetsu sat down beside him. “What’s bugging you?”

“You know what,”

“Well, yeah,” Suigetsu laid down beside him, resting his head on his arms. “We can’t run away from conflict forever, kiddo,”

“I’m not a child,”

“Yup,” Suigetsu said, lips popping on the final letter. “We realized something after you left. You’re the baby of the team,”

“That’s irrelevant,” Sasuke rolled his eyes.

“Aw, the wittle baby captain’s grumpy,” Suigetsu teased, reaching out to pinch Sasuke’s cheek.

“You know, you’re the only one I’d let get away with something this stupid,” Sasuke sounded annoyed, but Suigetsu didn’t miss the smile that came to his face.

“That’s cause I’m the first,” Suigetsu crowed. “You said so yourself,”

“Now I regret it. If I could go back, I’d grab Jugo first,”

Suigetsu laughed, standing back up.

“C’mon,” he held out a hand. “Let’s go see what Karin and Jugo are up to. Knowing her, she probably got lost,”

There, in the Land of Rivers, surrounded by his teammates, Sasuke felt at ease.

 

It’s Itachi, of all people, who has to come get Sasuke.

Naruto and Sakura showed up to his house, frantic as they rambled off details of the fight that had ensued. Of course, his hot-headed little brother would go off with his team. He was an Uchiha, after all, Itachi thought, remembering his fellow clansmen having little to no temper. He honestly thought the only people who actually could remain calm was Shisui, his mother, and himself, and he had had hopes for Sasuke, but apparently that wouldn’t be the case.

Itachi found himself wandering through the streets of a village somewhere located in the Land of Rivers, vaguely remembering the place. He had gone there once or twice with Kisame, on a mission for the Akatsuki. There was a nice tavern there, he remembered, and it often played live music.

He wasn’t there for the tavern, however, he grimaced, making his way towards the small police station there.

Itachi hated police stations of all kinds. It brought up ugly memories. There were few good ones, such as sitting in his father’s lap at his desk as a small child, practicing his handwriting while his father filled out paperwork. Most memories of the police station were of having to report back to him, a double agent for the village and the clan, and he tried not to think too much on it.

“Hi,” Itachi smiled at the secretary, hoping that he wouldn’t need to put her under a genjutsu. “I’m here to pick up a group of teenagers. There should be four of them,”

“Oh,” she said, looking up from a stack of papers. “Cell Four,”

“Thank you,”

As expected, there was his troublesome little brother, sitting with his arms crossed in between Jugo and Suigetsu. Karin was complaining about having to heal wounds, a nasty gash on the side of Jugo’s cheek. The pattern was reminiscent of a broken beer bottle, and Itachi could only imagine what happened.

“Why did I get a frantic Geruda pecking at my window at,” Itachi glanced at the clock on the wall. “One in the morning? You’re lucky I’m close by,”

It was now approaching three in the morning, and Sasuke looked exhausted.

“We may or may not have gotten mistaken for a band,” Suigetsu said, letting Karin focus some medical chakra into his broken finger. “And they may or may not have gotten mad when we took the pay and dipped, since neither of us can sing or play an instrument,”

“Sasuke can play flute,” Itachi deadpanned. “Mother forced him to learn,”

“As he was saying,” Sasuke interrupted. “It was a misunderstanding, and I would very much appreciate it if you would get us out of here,”

“My own brother, trying to turn me into a criminal by breaking him free from jail,”

“You literally were an internationally wanted criminal with flee on sight warrants in every country,” Karin said.

Itachi gave a shrug, waving down an officer. A quick little genjutsu had him unlocking the cell door, freeing them.

“I owe ya one,” Suigetsu said, stretching his legs.

“Let’s just go home,” Itachi said, sighing. “Please, try not to get into any more trouble,”

 

Taka spent the night at Itachi’s house, enjoying the warmth of the cottage and the ocean not too far from it. Itachi nearly tripped over the pile of members, fast asleep in the center of his living room as he tried to make tea early in the morning. Suigetsu nearly got swept out to sea when they went for a swim, much to Jugo’s panic, but Sasuke enjoyed laying in the sun, napping. Itachi joined him, skimming through a book Kakashi had given him. Karin opted to stay back, working on her chakra chains, still getting the hang of summoning them at will.

She didn’t make a comment when Itachi and Sasuke, pale as the moon, came back burnt the same shade of red as her hair.

Suigetsu did, though.

Karin simply shook her head, done with the boys’ antics as she made burn salve.

 

Kumo was easily avoided, the Raikage making it incredibly clear that he did not like Sasuke at the summit. Iwa was windy, and not enjoyable. Suna was too bright, and Sasuke didn’t want to risk running into Gaara, who certainly would inform Naruto of their whereabouts.

“Can we please go visit Kiri?” Suigetsu begged as they travelled. “I miss home,”

And so, to Kiri they went.

 

“You can’t keep avoiding going home, Sasuke,” Kisame said one night over drinks. In Kiri, it seemed that no one paid attention to the youngest surviving Uchiha, the bartender simply filling cup after cup without a second glance.

“What do you know about that?”

“Your brother sends me letters from time to time,” Kisame said, watching Sasuke down his third drink. “You should pace yourself,”

There was a crash in the bar, and when the pair turned around, seeing Suigetsu standing atop a man twice his size and weight, crowing about beating him at arm wrestling, Kisame ordered another handful of drinks for himself.

“I swear,” he said, knocking back two drinks together. “You Uchihas are stubborn as hell,”

“Sorry,” Sasuke mumbled, looking down at the fourth drink. Suigetsu was getting properly hammered himself, finding an old friend of Mangetsu’s who was more than willing to treat his baby brother to bottomless drinks.

“Tell that Naruto kid your feelings now, or else you’ll regret never telling him,” Kisame said, setting down the glass a little too hard. “You really should apologize,”

“Oh, like how you never told my brother about how you feel about him?” Sasuke teased, enjoying himself as he watched the Swordsman get flustered.

“Sasuke!” Karin shouted, trying to drag Suigetsu from another bar brawl. “Help!”

 

Mei wasn’t too pleased to be woken up from her nap to go down to Kiri’s police force, having to bail out her guard and four little hellions.

“You’re lucky you’re handsome,” she teased, pinching Sasuke’s cheek. Suigetsu couldn’t stop laughing.

 

“Your brother wants you to come home,” Kisame said, skimming the latest letter from Itachi. Itachi’s crow sat perched on his shoulder, munching on a salted fish Kisame kept just for the messenger bird.

Sasuke hummed in response, watching Suigetsu drag Karin into the bay. He was laughing, having shoved her in once she complained about the cold water. Jugo seemed to be having fun, building himself a little sand castle with precision.

They had been gone for two months, the time off together as a team well needed.

“Should I write that you’re coming back?” Kisame asked, knowing the crow would stay perched on his shoulder all day until he had a response to send. “If not, I’m just going to send a basic report on how you brats are doing,”

“I think it’s time we go back,” Sasuke said, forcing himself to sit up and watch Karin try to drown Suigetsu. Jugo abandoned his castle, opting to dive into the chilly water of the bay.

He didn’t wait for a response, opting instead to follow his team, and enjoy the cold water, pleasantly shocking them.

Heading back was delayed by a few days, though, since the ice cold swim made them catch colds, bundled up together in their inn room.

 

Konoha’s gates were drawing near, and Sasuke felt nervous as they continued. It was heading into winter, now, the ground coated in frost.

He drew his cloak closer, hiding his nose in the collar. He had told only Itachi that he would be heading back, but no true schedule for when.

However, as if they could just tell, Naruto and Sakura were waiting by the gate, bundled up with cups of hot chocolate.

“Hi,” Naruto said.

“Hi,” Sasuke said.

“I’m sorry for what I said before,” Naruto looked out at Sasuke, past his shoulder to see Karin. “I didn’t mean to upset you all. I just didn’t really know you all too well, ya know. I didn’t mean what I said. It’s just…”

He trailed off, looking to Sakura for some assistance.

“Sasuke’s been gone for so long, and we just wanted things to go back to normal,” Sakura provided. “We know now that things will never be the same as they were back when we were kids, but we’d still like to have you all in our lives, as well. We may have been Sasuke’s teammates first, but you’re his team now, and we’ll accept whatever decision he makes,”

“Okay,” Sasuke said, looking at his two former teammates. “I’m…I’m sorry. I was being a jerk,”

“Yeah, you were,” Naruto said. “Do you have any idea how upset you made us, ya know?”

“I didn’t mean to blame you both for the shortcomings of the adults who were supposed to be doing their jobs at protecting us,” he said. “It’s not right to blame you both, when we were just kids,”

“Friends again?” Naruto asked, holding his arms out.

Sasuke huffed, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, friends again,” he said, letting himself be enveloped in Naruto and Sakura’s embrace.

“C’mon, you guys, too,” Naruto said, looking at Taka from over Sasuke’s shoulder and motioning them in with one hand.

Izumo and Kotetsu wouldn’t comment on the weird group hug, watching from the gate, but it was relieving to have Sasuke back in the village, even if it wasn’t permanent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They made up! Also, I realized just today as I was looking up the birthdays for Team Taka that Sasuke is, in fact, the youngest on the team, and I thought that was pretty funny and wanted to incorporate that a bit into this. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Feel free to comment/critique!


	17. Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Konan knows things need to be ended now.

Konan took in a shaky breath, fighting the urge to sob.

Nagato.

There’s so much blood, there’s blood everywhere. Her throat tightened painfully, choking her as she tried to prevent a sob from breaking through, trying to hide her face behind that carefully made up mask she had created at a young age to prevent too much emotion from showing.

_“You have to be strong, Konan,” Jiraiya had said, wrapping his arms around her as she cried. “The boys need you to be strong for them, or else they’ll do something stupid,”_

Now he lay at the bottom of the lake, a lake full of explosive tags.

Her resolve crumbled as she fell to her knees in front of her best friend, one she had a deep, lasting love for. She clutched Nagato’s cold hand in hers, sobbing loudly, the Deva Path, Yahiko, laying beside him.

Nagato is dead and missing an eye. Konan swallowed the bile that threatened to burn her throat, allowing herself to cry.

She knows immediately who she needs to contact.

 

Amegakure is a constant torrential downpour since Nagato died, Kisame noted. It poured even harder than it had when he was alive, the water flooding the streets.

“I’m worried about Konan,” Itachi said by his side, not looking too pleased at his waterlogged cloak. Kisame fought the urge to smile, the two having returned to wearing their Akatsuki cloaks, the red clouds that had symbolized unnecessary bloodshed.

The dark colors always had complimented him, he thinks, hating the reason why the last two loyal members to Konan are back, wearing the cloaks they had shed just shy of a year prior.

Konan was waiting for them at the entrance to the tower. She looked tired, bags setting under her beautiful orange eyes. She looked thinner, frailer and sickly, the color drained from her face. Kisame wondered if she had been eating properly since she came into her shared room, noticing her hands fumble with an origami bird.

For the first time since meeting Konan, Itachi watched her fail to create something. Konan crumpled the paper in her hands, tossing it to the drenched street and stomping down harshly with her heel.

“I’m surprised you came, Itachi,” she said, glaring at him. “I thought you wanted to stay out of this. Kisame, I told you to come alone,”

“You know I couldn’t, Konan,”

 

_Itachi lounged on his loveseat, glasses perched on the edge of his nose as he read through a scroll written by Hashirama Senju. Recently uncovered by Tsunade, it had been discovered that Hashirama had kept a private collection of his own personal philosophies, neat little brushstrokes forever seeped into the fabric of the old scroll held in thin, birdlike hands._

_The door opened, the click of it shutting alerting Itachi without him actually having to pick his head up that it was either Sasuke, or…_

_“Itachi, are you in here?” Kisame’s voice filled the space, heavy footsteps recognizable even if he had been blinded. “It’s urgent,”_

_“And what, my dear friend, might that be?”_

_Kisame entered the small space, holding a letter out to Itachi._

_It was tear-stained, the ink smudged from where it had once been wet. Konan’s familiar beautiful script had been replaced with frantic strokes, “I’ll kill him, I’ll kill him, please, come help,” burning into his eyes._

_“Nagato is dead,” Kisame said. “We need to go,”_

 

Konan cried herself out, falling asleep after being awake for three days, Nagato’s death spurring the need to finish the lake.

“Where could he be?” Itachi asked, lying still to prevent Konan from falling from where she had fallen asleep, face pressed against his shoulder.

“He might be at one of Orochimaru’s old hideouts,” Kisame said, searching around their old kitchen.

About a year and a half ago, they would have been living there, having to deal with the other members of the Akatsuki. Hidan would be pushing past everyone to make himself something meaty, Kakuzu would be complaining about their grocery bill. Deidara would slump into the kitchen, a zombie until his second cup of coffee. Sasori would decline to go, not needing nourishment in his puppet body.

“Can you come here, please?” he asked, holding up a fresh fish. “I need a _katon_ ,”

Konan definitely didn’t disagree to them cooking her favorite flame-broiled fish, eating hungrily before having them circle around her, letting her relay the plan she had set in motion months ago.

 

It was decided, mainly by Itachi.

Naruto was needed.

 

It had to be a cruel, horrible joke, Konan thought. Naruto looked near tears, shaking visibly beside her, sage mode activated, standing proudly with the cloak of the toad sage on his shoulders.

Standing across from her on her lake, next to Obito and Kabuto.

“Nagato?” her voice was watery, feeling her chest clench painfully. “Yahiko,”

“Konan, please,” Yahiko said, looking close to tears. “Please, if you love us, defeat us,”

“I can’t,” Konan shook her head, her love and best friend standing side by side, supporting one another.

“Konan, Naruto, you have to, before they make us kill you,”

“Jiraiya-sensei,” Naruto’s lip wavered, and Konan prayed he didn’t start crying. If he did, she might not be able to keep strong. “Alright,”

“Please,” Jiraiya begged, looking at his former student.

“I’ll take Obito,” Konan said, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Kisame, take care of Nagato and Yahiko. Itachi, you take Kabuto. Naruto, I entrust you to deal with Jiraiya,”

The silent agreement from her teammates assured her that after this, things would be alright.

 

Konan had to force herself to look away as Itachi aided Kisame, sealing Nagato and Yahiko with the Totsuka Blade. Jiraiya put up a half-hearted fight, and Naruto, with tears in his eyes, had to help seal their former teacher, their beloved father figure.

With a quick genjutsu, Itachi willed Kabuto into a catatonic state with Tsukuyomi, but not before having him release the Reanimation jutsu.

Konan was hurt, clutching the side that Obito had managed to swipe at with a kunai. He was just as damaged, part of his mask broken off to reveal the stolen Rinnegan.

“You’re the darkness Yahiko and Nagato wished to eradicate from this world,” Konan said, extending a hand and weaving the sign. Naruto jumped behind her, Kisame wrapping an arm around Itachi and jumping from the lake that began to split beneath Obito’s feet.

“I’ve readied six hundred billion tags,” Konan said, watching Obito fall, the first of the tags to glow lighting the darkness of the crevice.

Then, the explosions began.

 

The explosions lasted ten minutes, Kisame and Itachi safe away in the lower district of Amegakure. Konan collapsed to her knees, ignoring Naruto’s attempts to seek Obito out, to see if he was truly dead. Smoke and sulfur filled the air, reminiscent of when Deidara used to be around, setting off explosions.

The Akatsuki had belonged to Yahiko, then Nagato.

Now, whatever was left of it belonged to Konan, and Konan alone.

A piercing pain erupted from her stomach, a single black rod breaking the skin there. A chakra rod, one the Deva path had once used.

“How…?” Konan gasped, feeling the air escape her lungs.

“Izanagi,” Obito said, blinking shut the one eye, now destroyed. “You were foolish, Konan. You could have stayed, allied yourself to me instead of becoming a traitor. You foolish girl, believing that world peace could be attainable,”

He removed the rod, Konan taking a few shaky steps forward. She was low on chakra, and her whole body screamed in pain. She heard Naruto shouting, somewhere off to her side. Kisame and Itachi were trying to restrain him, the sage power riling up.

Konan thought of Yahiko, and how he believed that Nagato would be the bridge to peace, and he happily would be a pillar to that bridge. She thought of her sibling student, young Naruto, who the world had hurt just like it had hurt her, and yet he kept on smiling, thriving for a peace that was unsure. She thought of Jiraiya, and how he promised her on nights that became too unbearable, the nightmares too real, that peace would come, reading to her until she fell asleep.

Most of all, she thought of the people of Amegakure. She was their Angel, their beacon of hope.

“What are you going to do?” Obito asked, readying another chakra rod. “Your friends, their will has gone. All that’s left behind is childish dreams, unachievable dreams Naruto has. There is only darkness in this world,”

Konan glanced up at the sky of Amegakure, the clouds breaking, the rain ceasing.

The sun was shining, for the first time in ages.

“I believe in your will,” she whispered, feeling a tear stream down her cheek. Yahiko, Nagato… if she could just hold them once more. “I choose to believe in Naruto’s will, as well!”

"Yahiko and Nagato's will hasn't vanished from this world! I believe in Naruto too! He… He will become the bridge that leads us to peace and I will be his pillar!" she shouted, the clear skies of Amegakure shining down on her.

A hand came to crush her throat, a voice telling her he would bring upon the darkness to end her light.

 

Amegakure’s Angel wins the fight, the murderer of her beloveds floating in the lake, lifeless. Exhausted and almost completely out of chakra, passing out in the arms of the boy whose will she vowed to protect.

Amegakure’s people are smiling at her, as she walks through the main road, escorted by the Hero of Konoha, leaning heavily onto his side.

It gives her hope that maybe, just maybe, she could be the one to continue on Yahiko and Nagato’s will.

The thought brings hot tears to her eyes, burning in relief as she openly sobs in the safety of the tower, burying her face into a pillow that smells of Nagato.

 

Together, her and Naruto work to building a safer future, one where small villages such as Amegakure are not affected by the conflict of larger nations, and unnecessary bloodshed ceases.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I've been doing a lot of thinking and I want the next chapter to be a wrap, so this fic will be ending soon. College is picking up workload wise for me, and I also drafted out the ending for this fic, and I want to get it done as soon as possible. I might do companion pieces to this, though, if there's interest!  
> Feel free to comment/critique!


	18. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All things must end sometime.

Sasuke let out a sigh, letting his feet dip into the water of the pond behind their home, the summer sun shining through the tree leaves, illuminating light across his face. After travelling, they had all decided the Uchiha compound was too difficult to live in, instead moving towards the border of Konoha and the Land of Rivers, a small house tucked into the safety of the woods. Suigetsu insisted they needed a pond, and after what seemed like a day of aimlessly wandering around, they found the perfect spot with a natural pond.  

Suigetsu swam happily, the sound of him splashing about filling the air. Jugo laid back on the dock, a bird chittering happily on his chest.

He never thought he would live to see his eighteenth birthday. Years ago, life had simply been lived to kill Itachi. There were no plans afterwards, really. He assumed he would marry, maybe have a kid or two, die.

Things had changed, but not terribly so.

“I made iced tea,” Karin said, coming out from the back of the house, carrying a pitcher. “It’d be nice if _someone_ helped refill the ice cube tray, though,”

“Trying to get Suigetsu to do that is like trying to teach a cat to quack,” Jugo said, tilting his face to catch the warm rays of sun. “I’ll make more later,”

“I can always count on you,” she said, setting a glass down and filling it for him.

“So,” Suigetsu swam over, hoisting himself up onto the dock to rest his arms on the wood. “What’s the plan for today, Sasuke?”

“I don’t know,” Sasuke shrugged. Itachi would be coming by later to celebrate. Sasuke wasn’t one for celebrating, but Itachi insisted, happy to be able to cherish his brother the way he wanted to. Over the past year, they had grown closer, falling back into their older devotional habits. Itachi would always be his big brother, just as he would always be Itachi’s little brother.

Some days were harder than others. Itachi still struggled around the anniversary of the massacre, and his birthday. Some days, Sasuke would scream at Itachi until he was blue in the face, threatening to pass out from lack of oxygen. Sometimes, Itachi would say something that triggered a bad memory in Sasuke, and it would result in days of uncomfortable silence.

“Well, Itachi’s coming over later,” Sasuke reiterated. “I think Team Seven, too,”

Team Seven was now just Yamato, Sai, Sakura and Naruto. Kakashi resigned the team to Yamato, having assumed title of Hokage after Tsunade grew tired, giving up on doing her work in favor of going out to drink and gamble.

Speaking of Kakashi, he had pulled Sasuke aside not too long ago, offering to take him out to lunch and apologized for not properly caring for him when he was under his watch.

It seemed so long ago. Five years, from thirteen to eighteen. So much had happened, so much sacrificed.

Karin leaned onto Sasuke’s shoulder, sipping at the sweetened iced tea. Jugo was too warm, Karin too close, but the two of them leaning on him felt right, made him feel grounded.

Breathing in the warm, fresh air, Suigetsu’s happy splashing not too far off, Sasuke could get used to peace like this.

 

“I can’t keep up with all this paperwork,” Naruto groaned, his head resting on the desk.

“You have to, Naruto,” Sakura rolled her eyes, sliding another paper towards him. “If you’re picking up the mantle of Hokage so quickly, you have a lot to work through,”

Naruto groaned again, his gaze flickering across the room. Shikamaru was resting in a chair, filing out the paperwork to become his aid. His inauguration wouldn’t be for a whole other year, letting Kakashi, the intermittent Hokage, finish his small term.

Tsunade one day had thrown everything off her desk, stepping down as Hokage in favor to relax and do what she genuinely loved, appointing Kakashi in her stead. He hated being in charge, and simply wanted to relax with Gai, their little rivalry still going strong after all these years.

Naruto was obviously the best choice going in, even though he was barely eighteen.

“I need to get out of here,” he said, stretching from his desk. “I’ll be back,”

 

Naruto had found the scroll, hidden deep in the archives of the Hokage’s tower.

Minato’s Flying Raijin seal, and how he created it.

Naruto had perfected it, weeks of trial and error, countless days dealing with his cousin yelling in his ear about doing the seal wrong. Minato had perfected the seal with Kushina’s assistance, and Naruto only found it fair that he, as their son, would learn it, too.

Sakura had Naruto’s seal tattooed along her spine, the familiar mess of his handwriting trailing down the center of her back. Kakashi had his on the inside of his wrist, easily hidden by his gloves. Sai’s was on his foot, a spot the two of them laughed over as he was getting it inked into his body. Yamato had his on the underside of his arm. The village itself had a marker atop Minato’s stone face.

Sasuke had his seal tattooed on his left breast, the thin scrawl always bringing a warm feeling to his heart.

“I hope I’m not late,” Naruto teased, finding himself in the middle of the kitchen. Suigetsu turned around from the fridge, a container of yogurt in one hand, spoon in the other.

“Nah, he’s napping,” Suigetsu said. “We weren’t expecting you until a bit later,”

“My eyes hurt the longer I stare at paperwork,” Naruto rubbed his eyes. “Team Seven’s swinging by later. I just wanted to head over now,”

“Did you leave a shadow clone?”

“Obviously,”

Their banter had turned friendlier since the incident. Naruto accepted the fact that despite what he may have originally thought, Taka was Sasuke’s team, his chosen family. He saw it in the way Sasuke looked at them. He looked calmer around them, he smiled more. He was more open to even making a joke here or there, always messing up the punchline, but the effort was noted. It seemed that Suigetsu was the one who could make Sasuke laugh the most, Karin could make him open up and talk more, and Jugo, by wanting to be by his side, allowed for Sasuke to be more open to affection.

They had a nice dichotomy to them, and it made Naruto believe that everything from there on out would be fine.

 

Sasuke was never one for celebrations, but when Kakashi stopped by, the rest of Team Seven in tow with a cake and two bottle of honey wine, he couldn’t say no.

Together, they had dinner and cake, relaxing in the large space of the den, fondly sharing stories. Naruto was talking with his hands, nearly smacking Sakura in the face a few times. She kept interrupting to tell the story the right way, while Sai watched with a warm smile. Kakashi was curled up, snoring softly in the chair he sat in, Yamato sitting beside him, content. Sasuke was resting with his head on Suigetsu’s shoulder, listening to his former teammates fill him in on missions he had missed years ago.

Naruto was in the middle of telling them the story of his fight with one of the Seven Swordsmen, who he had to constantly reiterate was not Kisame nor Zabuza, when there was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it,” Sasuke said, pushing himself up from his spot on the floor. He stumbled a moment, probably shouldn’t have let Kakashi hand him that last glass of wine, as he made his way to the door.

It was Itachi and Kisame.

“Happy birthday, my dear little brother,” Itachi’s smile would never get old in Sasuke’s mind, the warmth of his hug burned into his memory. “I can’t believe you’re eighteen,”

“Yeah,” Sasuke pressed his face into Itachi’s shoulder, feeling the sudden urge of tears.

That quickly was replaced with shock, however.

“Uh, Kisame?” Suigetsu asked, looking at the doorway. “Whatcha got there?”

“My sword?”

“No, in your arms,”

“Itachi’s bag,”

“No,” Suigetsu rolled his eyes. “God, I didn’t realize you had the brain the size of a goldfish. Why do you have a kid?”

 

Kisame woke up to Chojuro pounding on his door, rambling something. The kid had completed his training, now taking Kisame’s place as Mei’s guard. Kisame had just wanted to spend the morning in bed, get out at his own leisurely pace, go visit Itachi, maybe take him out to a teashop.

He wasn’t expecting Chojuro to all but break into his apartment at five in the morning, demanding he come to Mei’s office.

 

Mei was seated at her desk, the spartan room of the Mizukage’s tower that was her office void of people other than herself and whoever was seated on her lap. She kept making cute little noises, babbles that reminded Kisame of what mothers would say to their children.

“Oh, good. You’re here. It took you long enough,” Mei teased, going back to the little one in her arms. “Would you like to see something intriguing?”

Mei allowed her lava release to form a bubble, blowing it like it was a piece of chewing gum. With a quick water technique, she cooled it, leaving behind a fine ball of glass.

“Why do you have a kid?” Kisame asked, coming over to sit on the edge of her desk. Thankfully Ao was resting in his room, Kisame thought, or else he’d have an aneurysm at the “disrespect,” and that Kisame was, and he quoted, “raised in a swamp,” which wasn’t entirely wrong, since Kirigakure was similar to one.

“Well, Chojuro and I were up late looking through the archives,” Mei began, turning her attention from her partner to the little girl in her lap. “And we were looking at files on the Swordsmen. Do you remember Raiga Kurosuki?”

He did, vaguely. Raiga was a new recruit, joining shortly before Kisame left. Ameyuri was sick, similar to what Itachi had, and had taken him as her subordinate to inherit Kiba, the Lightening Blade. Zabuza and Kisame would torment him every once and a while, push him to his snapping point. It was part of being one of the famed Swordsmen of the Mist. One had to be tough, in every sense of the word.

“What about Raiga?” Kisame asked, treading lightly on the question. He was smart, and he knew what Mei would say next.

“He died, a few years back,” Mei said, shifting the little girl in her arms. “He had a daughter. This is Buntan,”

The little girl took one look at Kisame, and then hid her face in the crook of Mei’s neck. Mei laughed sweetly, a hand coming up to pat at the girl’s back.

“She’s incredibly shy,” Mei apologized.

“Well, I do tend to scare children,” Kisame said. “Why have Chojuro break down my door for this?”

“Buntan,” Mei said, drawing the attention of the young girl. “Could you be a dear and go with Chojuro for a moment?”

Buntan nodded, letting Mei pass her over to Chojuro.

Once the door of the office clicked shut, Mei straightened up.

“We only found her because it was briefly mentioned by her mother in the delivery room who her father was,” Mei said. “Her mother had been neglecting her, spurned on by some hatred of Raiga, and early this morning relinquished her parental rights,”

“That’s too bad,” Kisame said. “But why did you bring me in?”

“I want to bring back the Swordsmen of the Mist,” Mei said. “Right now, it’s you, Chojuro, and that Hozuki boy who’s partnered with Sasuke. There needs to be a next generation, and we already got the clearance at the summit to have you be in charge of raising that new generation,”

Mei sighed, turning her back to look out the window, out onto the bay.

“Kisame, I’ve done a lot for you since your defection from the Akatsuki,” Mei said. “And now, I want you to trust me. I want you to trust me entrusting you with this task,”

“Of course, Mei,”

“I want you to take Buntan, and begin training her as soon as possible,” Mei said. “She’s only going to be four, but she’s got strong ambitions to be a strong kunoichi like me. She told me shortly before you came in,”

“I can’t wield Kiba,”

“You could,” Mei said. “You’ve never tried. You have the most dangerous sword. If anything, you can wield them all as Mangetsu once did,”

Silence filled the office, unsaid acceptance hanging in the air.

 

“So, Mei’s really gonna make you train a bunch of kiddos to be the next set of Swordsmen?” Suigetsu groaned. “Uh, you’re like a parent now! That’s so lame,”

“That’s pretty much the gist of it,” Kisame said, feeling too crowded in Sasuke’s kitchen. He turned his head, watching Sasuke listen to Buntan adamantly talk about being able to use a little bit of lightening style. Kisame wasn’t much help there, but Itachi, who had copied a few hand signs with the Sharingan, was, and upon hearing that his little brother had a lightening affinity as well, she had grown interested in meeting him.

Naruto was stunned that Raiga, who he remembered as scary, could have such an endearing little daughter. Sakura and Karin were cooing over how cute she was, fair hair tucked back behind her ears, large blue eyes taking in the people around her.

“Have you told him yet?” Suigetsu prodded, watching the way Kisame’s face softened as Itachi helped Buntan move her tiny fingers alongside his. They were doing a small technique, one that would give no more than a small shock to a person.

Kakashi had become the unsuspecting victim, jolting from his nap, laughter filling the room.

“No,” Kisame shook his head. “With all this, I’m going to focus on being a parent, I guess,”

“So, you’re actually her dad now?”

“Mei had me sign adoption papers,”

“Wow. That’s harsh,”

“No, I wanted to,” Kisame said. “If anything, the poor girl deserves at least a parent that will protect her, not harm her. She kind of reminds me of Ameyuri, and it’s nice,”

The two Swordsmen of the Mist stood in the kitchen, watching a group of adult ninja play around with a four year old, feigning defeat after a light shock.

 

Itachi and Sasuke sat out on the pier, crickets chirping happily in the summer night.

“Happy birthday, Sasuke,” Itachi said, leaning over to nudge him with his shoulder.

“Thanks,” Sasuke looked out at the moon reflecting onto the pond. A full moon.

Full moons brought back bitter memories.

“Mother and Father would be so proud of you,” Itachi said. “They loved you so much. I just…You needed to know,”

“They’d be proud of you, too,” Sasuke’s hands sat in his lap, fiddling with a piece of grass.

Itachi hummed in agreement, the two enjoying the night.

“So,” Sasuke broke the silence after a minute. “Have you two finally confessed yet?”

“No,”

“You’re practically parents now. I saw how you were looking at him when he carried the kid when she was asleep. I don’t see why you can’t just admit it,”

“What about you and Naruto, if we are prodding into one another’s love lives?”

Sasuke shrugged.

“He’s going to become Hokage,” he said, watching the moon reflect onto the surface of the water. “I love him, but until he makes change in the village…I want to just stay here,”

“I understand,” Itachi shifted Buntan in his arms, letting her rest her face on his shoulder.

“You need to be blunt about it with Kisame,” Sasuke said. “That’s how Naruto is,”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Itachi sighed. “We’ll see where the course takes us,”

Silence filled the gap once more, Sasuke leaning onto Itachi, the two brothers content.

“Can you make eggs in the morning?”

“I can try,”

 

Itachi’s attempt at making eggs resulted in all their eggs being used up, none cooked to his perfection.

Yamato, who had taken up baking, managed to save the morning by making muffins, much to Itachi’s chagrin.

 

Karin worked a seal into Sakura’s vest, running a chakra laced finger over it to test it.

Seemingly out of thin air, she pulled out a full medical kit, making for easy storage. Sakura jumped up and down, squealing in her praise as she pulled the redhead in for a big hug, lifting her up off the ground to spin her around in excitement.

Suigetsu wouldn’t stop laughing at Karin’s face, which he could only dub as red as a tomato.

 

“I never took you for gardening, ya know?” Naruto said one day, stifling a giggle at the broad sunhat Itachi had bought him.

“It helps me destress,” Sasuke said, plucking a weed from his tomato plants. Jugo was tending to the small beehive, harvesting some extra honey without disturbing the nest. “Jugo likes being outside, too,”

“You’re happier,” Naruto leaned over, placing a small kiss to his cheek. “I love this,”

“I like it, too,”

 

Naruto expected this for some time, he admitted to himself. He hadn’t exactly expected Itachi to suddenly appear in a shroud of crows, cornering him atop the Hokage tower.

“What are your intentions with my little brother?” he asked, red eyes shifting to the Mangekyo.

Naruto thanked every deity he could, knowing that if Itachi were that bad, then the rest of Sasuke’s family would have been just as dangerous.

It seemed, after an hour of reassuring the brother that he loved Sasuke wholeheartedly, and just wanted his happiness, that Itachi let up, disappearing as quickly as he had appeared.

 

Naruto’s inauguration was a spectacle all villages flocked to the Leaf for. The youngest Hokage in history, he would be hailed the hero of the village, taking the cloak so similar to his father’s.

“What a drag this whole thing is,” Shikamaru complained, flicking his lighter on. “I hate formal events,”

“Me too,” Kakashi sighed. “I can’t wait to be out of this stuffy robe,”

The two shared a laugh, watching as Naruto was dragged up to the top of the tower by Konohamaru, excitedly shouting about his big brother, Iruka in tow, near tears at how proud he was.

Sasuke and Sakura sat back, watching from the balcony of Naruto’s apartment.

“I can’t believe it,” Sasuke said. “He actually did it,”

“Yeah,” Sakura laughed. “He did,”

He felt her wrap an arm around his waist, pulling him close. He rested his head on her shoulder, the two sighing in unison.

“Thank you, for being his goal,” she said. “He loves you so much. We all love you, Sasuke,”

Sasuke didn’t respond. He didn’t have to, to let her know the feeling was mutual.

Naruto stepped up beside Kakashi, taking the red hat. Sakura fought back the wave of tears that sprung to life, allowing Sasuke to hug her back as she cried tears of joy, proud of Naruto. Sasuke would later deny that he was crying, too.

 

“I’m proud of you, my dear friend,” Gaara said, smiling as he took Naruto’s hands in his.

“We have a dashing young man for a Hokage now,” Mei mused. “There’s a few things I’d like to discuss with you, once you’ve settled,”

“Congrats, kid,” Ay said, giving Naruto a proud smile. He extended his hand, happy that Naruto reciprocated his fist bump.

“I knew you could do it, kid,” Kurotsuchi, the new Tsuchikage, said, smiling widely at him.

The roar of applause from the Leaf village made all the troubles Naruto endured worth it, he thought.

 

A year passed.

 

Sasuke loved Naruto deeply, but he refused to leave his team, his family. The two had reached an agreement, to work in tandem as Hokage, one as the figurehead, one as the shadow.

Naruto could never completely understand his relationship with Taka, but he was open to it, understanding.

Sasuke squeezed Naruto’s hand tightly in his, watching as Sakura laughed, Ino shoving a piece of cake into her face.

They were beautiful brides, he admitted, Ino’s hair adorned with cosmos and cherry blossoms, Sakura wearing the present Sasuke had given her after she announced her engagement, a necklace his father once gave his mother.

Kakashi was teary eyed, wiping his face as Iruka gave a sympathetic pat on the back. Yamato was openly weeping, happy for his little teammate as he held onto Inoichi and Hizashi, the fathers crying tears of joy.

Sakura was genuinely happy, her smile rivalling only Naruto’s. Ino couldn’t tear her eyes from her bride, not even when Choji and Shikamaru tried pulling her away for a congratulatory hug.

It seemed fitting, the new head of T&I and the head of the hospital, two of the strongest kunoichi of their generation, getting together.

Sakura would say she knew from the beginning, Ino would lie and say she didn’t know until Sakura fought her during the chunin exams.

Both knew it was love at first sight.

 

Fatherhood was interesting, to say the least.

Kisame never expected himself, in any way, shape, or form, to become a parent, biologically or surrogate. Growing up in the Bloody Mist never secured a future, and by the time he was in the Akatsuki, he had given up on any semblance of a peaceful life.

He tried lying to himself, the first few weeks into it. Buntan slept horribly, thrashing about and having nightmares, nightmares of an abusive mother who hated her simply because of her father. Both parent and child had been stressed, and Mei smacked Kisame hard enough he saw his life flash before his eyes when he one time snapped at her, sleep deprived. It took time, and patience, but it wasn’t completely unlike training Chojuro, but still vastly different.

He wouldn’t be successful if it weren’t for Itachi.

Itachi, who, upon learning of the adoption, immediately offered to help. Children seemed to like him, Kisame noted, memories of travelling through villages, children often smiling at his smaller partner and shying away from him.

He watched as Itachi showed Buntan how to properly write her name, small clumsy hands grasping a pen. Kisame decided she should keep her name, not wanting to erase something as important as her lineage.

Raiga was probably rolling in whatever grave he was in, knowing that one of his most hated swordsman was raising his daughter, but Kisame couldn’t bring himself to care. Buntan was polite, and though she had her moments where her temper sparked just like electricity, it was nice to have someone who depended on him, who enjoyed his company.

He remembered the first time he sat outside in the middle of summer with her, watching her try to catch fireflies.

“Look, Papa!” she had shouted, the first time she had ever called him that. “I caught the moon!”

She had pointed to the bucket on the ground, the reflection of the moon in the water.

“You look pensive,” Itachi said, drawing Kisame from his thoughts. His heart practically skipped a beat, Buntan seated in Itachi’s lap, the two looking at him with almost identical expressions.

“It’s nothing,”

 

Mei was weeping quietly, clutching the newborn in her arms.

“I’m so sorry, Kisame,” she said, taking the hand not cradling the infant to wipe her tears. “I never knew,”

He had a sister, one he had never known. A sister who now lay six feet under, leaving behind a child, not even a full week old.

“He’s your nephew,” she said.

He thought he had been the last of his clan, but now, there were just the two of them.

Shizuma Hoshigaki became his second child, and Kisame, with no knowledge on how to care for an infant, immediately told Itachi.

 

“He’s cute,” Suigetsu said, watching Shizuma try to gnaw on his finger. “Aw, now I have someone else to compete for Samehada with!”

“Quiet,” Sasuke said, shooting a look at him. “Don’t shout in front of babies,”

“He’s so cute,” Karin cooed, running a hand through his soft ebony hair. “He almost looks like he’s yours, Itachi,”

It had meant to be a joke, but she didn’t miss the flush of color creep to his face.

“No,” Jugo shook his head. “He looks too much like Kisame. See, he had the gills,”

“All Hoshigakis have that,” Kisame said. “He better look like me. I’m his uncle,”

Suigetsu groaned, having accepted the fact that an infant would get Samehada before he did.

 

Itachi really missed holding babies, he realized, Shizuma fast asleep on his chest. Taking care of Sasuke had been wonderful, helping raise him and being the first to go to him when he needed anything. His own parents weren’t as attentive as he had been. Sasuke rarely cried due to Itachi’s keen instinct.

Kisame looked exhausted, sitting down next to him. Buntan was outside, practicing her swordsmanship with Suigetsu, the two swinging around wooden swords as Karin chimed in from time to time, insults for Suigetsu, praises for the little girl, now five. Sasuke had insisted that Kisame needed some time to relax, offering to watch Buntan. Between four adults, he reasoned, she shouldn’t be too much trouble. She loved Jugo the most, he noticed, his calm demeanor and willingness to carry her on his shoulders making him her instant favorite, second to Karin.

“He’s teething,” Itachi noted, letting his eyes shut. “He’s got sharp teeth, like you,”

Kisame made a noise in agreement, looking down at the drooling baby on Itachi’s shoulder. His chest bloomed with warmth, his gaze going to Itachi.

He looked so healthy, so happy. Tsunade had cleared him from all signs of his illness a week prior, and he had retired, enjoying life away from the violence that came from being a shinobi. His hair, still long, was pulled over one shoulder, an ebony curtain. His face had softened, and he smiled more often. He looked amazing, looked perfect.

“He’s such a cute baby,” Itachi rubbed his back, hands going into soft circles on the baby, hand grazing over the little shark. “Did you ever think this would happen?”

“I assumed I’d live and die as a shinobi,” Kisame said. “When we were in the Akatsuki, I realized I’d be happy to simply die by your side,”

“Konan seems to be doing amazing as village head,” Itachi mused. “We should visit soon, so she can meet Shizuma,”

“She’s good with kids,”

The two fell into comfortable silence, watching the sleeping baby.

Here, seeing the man he had loved for now, going on almost seven years in silence, he knew he had to tell him.

Kisame never was good with words, however, so he placed a hand on Itachi’s face, tilting his face to press his lips to his.

The kiss was slow, was perfect.

Itachi’s eyes were wide as they pulled apart, looking shocked.

“I love you,” he blurted, and Kisame laughed. “Ever since I met you, I-”

“I love you, too,” Kisame grabbed his hand, bringing it up to his lips to kiss his knuckles. “Ever since that mission to the Land of Tea,”

The mission where Itachi and Kisame were forced to share a bed in the middle of winter, in an inn with no heat. Kisame remembered Itachi, nineteen at the time, up during the night, coughing up blood and burning up with a fever. Itachi remembered Kisame rubbing soothing circles into his back, offering him tea and postponing their return to the Akatsuki for a few days in order to take care of him.

Itachi smiled, leaning over to kiss him once more.

“About damn time!” Suigetsu shouted from the doorway, interrupting the two. “I thought I’d go grey before you two finally got together,”

Sasuke just shook his head next to him, sighing with a smile. Karin was holding Buntan, the Uzumaki beaming at the little girl.

Itachi relaxed as Kisame laced his fingers with his, happy with this odd family he found himself a part of.

 

The house was theirs once more, Jugo sighed. He loved company, enjoyed seeing people who cared for and loved Sasuke, but he truly enjoyed their home when it was just the four of them.

Karin was rambling about making child-protecting seals, something she was working on for Itachi and Kisame. Suigetsu was poking fun at her, dodging any swipe she made at him. Sasuke sat back and watched, lazily eating.

They had formed as a means to meet a goal. Arguments and constant fighting made their early life as a team almost unbearable. Life as a unit, as a family, now was full of small spats over who did the dishes, who would deal with the trash.

Living together, far enough from the drama of a village, just together, alone, was perfect.

Jugo smiled, taking a bite of his food. He loved this the most, the normalcy of being together for so long, now going on four years, the troubles he had in the past seemingly so far away.

 

In the end, things seemed to fall into place, working out just fine.

Karin became a sealing master, chakra chains glowing a beautiful, warm gold, living up to her ancestors, Mito and Kushina.

Jugo learned to control his anger, content in living out in nature, ready to protect those he loved, remaining loyal and by their side.

Suigetsu, after plenty of arguing and asserting his birthright as the descendant of the Second Mizukage, was officially made one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

Sasuke was surrounded by people who loved him. He had his brother, the last remaining members of the Uchiha clan. He had his family in Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo, in Kakashi, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato. He had a lover in Naruto.

He, as decided by Sakura after a mental evaluation, retired as a shinobi, still as dangerous as Naruto, but content in living a life where his loyalties could lie in the ones he loved.

He wouldn’t have it any other way, finally achieving the peace, external and internal, that he had sought for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not too big into Boruto, but I did love the arc with the New Seven Swordsmen, and since they would be kids by the time of the Last, I wanted to include them (or, at least two of them), too.
> 
> It's finally done! Thank you all so much for reading, and feel free to comment and let me know what you think of it! It truly means a lot to me!


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